


The Avatar Makes Three

by AvocadoLove



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Avatar Katara (Avatar), Avatar Toph, Avatar Zuko (Avatar), Bromance, Companionable Snark, Epic Bromance, Epic Friendship, F/M, Gen, M/M, Meta, Sarcasm, Team as Family, The Author Regrets Nothing, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, screw the rules
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2019-08-22 12:51:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 43,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16598252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoLove/pseuds/AvocadoLove
Summary: The end of the war was within reach when disaster struck: Avatar Aang lost his life while energy-bending Ozai. But out of the darkness comes one last chance at hope, because the Avatar spirit was reborn… in Aang's instructors.Featuring time travel, meta snarking, and Avatar Zuko, Avatar Katara and Avatar Toph deciding to screw the rules and end the war their way.





	1. Prologue

The sky was darkening to a dusky purple of late evening. Sozin’s comet was a single garish orange splash near the horizon — still bright, but receding like a bad memory.

Behind them Azula crouched, chained down and wailing piteously, sometimes literally vomiting blue fire. Zuko knew he should try to find a way to comfort her... somehow. But it was all he could do to stand upright, and he was only managing that with help.

His fingers twitched with lingering electrical trauma, his heart beat too hard and too fast in his breast to be normal, and his stomach burned like he had swallowed hot coals, but he was _alive_... and probably in charge of the Fire Nation now.

Unless Aang didn't win.

Night had truly fallen and there had been no word from the Earth Kingdom. No sign from the missing Avatar.

Zuko glanced at Katara. She must have read the worry on his face because her mouth firmed. “Aang will come through. I know it.”

 _Has anyone ever had that level of faith in me?_ Zuko wondered, before deciding, _Maybe Uncle. Before Ba Sing Se. Aang doesn’t know how lucky has had it._

Zuko let out a breath and decided to speak his fears aloud. “I know Aang will return from from... wherever he went.” Jun’s words floated through in his mind. _I would be able to find him if he were dead._ “But I still don’t know how he’s going to be able to stop Ozai without killing him.”

Katara was silent for almost a full minute. Considering she was usually so quick to spout motivational speeches (and death threats) that was telling. Finally, she settled with, “If anyone can do it, Aang can.”

They fell silent again. Waiting a lonely vigil.

Still, maybe it was the last drags of adrenaline, or power from the comet, but Zuko couldn’t shake a bad feeling which crept up his spine. He kept looking around as if expecting to see new enemies appear around corner. 

He wasn’t the only one who was twitchy. Katara glanced again at the now darkened sky, frowning.

“Why do I get the feeling this isn’t over?” she asked.

He cast her a swift glance and then nodded, pulling away to stand firmly on his own two feet. Or, not so firmly. Without Katara’s supporting shoulder, he wavered a little. “I’m not sure how much help I’m going to be,” he admitted, one hand pressed against his burned chest.

“Aang will pull through,” she said again, though now sounded more like a prayer then a certainty. “He has to.”

They waited and the nameless, formless feeling of dread grew. Suddenly, it sharpened and Zuko inhaled with a feeling like he was about to be plunged into ice-water.

Instantly, the pearlescent sky exploded in light and color, like a second sunrise. Bands of red as a vivid as spilled blood cut straight from horizon to horizon, alternating with brilliant, unearthly blue.

“What is _that_?“ Katara demanded.

“I don’t know. It’s—” _Wrong._ “It’s coming from the east.“ From the direction of the Earth Kingdom.

It could only be the Avatar’s power

The sight should have filled him with hope. But, as Zuko watched, his heart beating in his throat like a caged bird, the red bled into blue, taking it over, until there was only a sliver left of the other color left.

He held his breath without knowing why.

Then, with a soundless _crack,_ the blue was gone.

It was like the world itself fractured. For a moment Zuko feared he had been hit by lightning again. Deep inside, something precious he didn’t even know had been there,shattered. 

Stunned, he turned and caught Katara’s wide-eyed gaze. She was hunched, clutching her chest.

“Something’s wrong—” she said.


	2. The Tale of Avatar Zuko: Part I

... The next thing he knew, Zuko was standing in a field in the middle of the day and there was complete and utter destruction all around him.

The air was cool with a chill that did not belong to summer. With a firebender’s innate sense, he noted the thin sunlight was slanted in a way it normally did only in mid-winter.

No, he realized, staring around. He wasn’t in a field—he was actually standing in palace gardens, but not as he had ever seen them before. Leaves had been ripped off every stem, clods of grass and dirt were flung everywhere, mixed in with broken tea cups. A table and canopy were laying upended at least twenty feet away—it looked like the fancy set Uncle used to have the servants drag out for celebrations.  
What was going on?

Around him, people—palace servants, nobles dressed in stained livery—picked themselves up as if they had been thrown to the ground. Zuko, who stood in the center of the chaos, was the only one left on his feet.

And they all stared at him as if he had grown two heads.

Zuko backed a step, not understanding, not knowing if these people were friends or foes or how he had even gotten here. Had he passed out, or somehow lost track of time? But why was he now in the _gardens_? Where was Katara? Had Aang come through?

“Nephew?” 

Zuko startled and turned around. His uncle was climbing slowly, painfully to his feet.

“Uncle Iroh? What are you doing here?“ Zuko took a step toward him then stopped to clutch his throat. His own voice sounded as high as it had been when he was a child. As soon as he moved, he found his lightning injury wasn’t bothering him, either. “What happened?” he squeaked. Literally. 

But even his uncle was staring at Zuko as if he were a ghost. “The impossible.”

 

 

* * *

 

Ten Minutes Earlier

* * *

 

 

“More sugar?” Iroh asked, passing a tray of lumps over.

“Father said I’m not supposed to have sugar. Says its for babies.” That declaration made, Iroh’s nephew resolutely took a sip of his unsweetened tea and manfully tried not to make a face.

Really, Ozai was too hard on the boy. Iroh sighed to himself, but kept his expression neutral. “It’s true that as you age, your sweet tooth often diminishes. However, today is your birthday. Surely you can allow yourself a treat.”

Zuko eyed Iroh’s large belly. “How many treats do you allow yourself, Uncle?”

“More than enough!” He chuckled, patted his belly, and then pushed the sugar closer. “I won’t tell your father if you don’t.”

Iroh’s heart broke a little as Zuko looked around as if to make _extra_ sure none of the passing nobles in the expansive palace gardens were paying attention. He had clearly already learned the hard lesson that everything came back to the Fire Lord eventually. However, the lure of sugar won out. With a mischievous grin, Zuko dropped a couple lumps in his tea. When he drank this time, it was with enthusiasm.

“Twelve years old today,” Iroh said. “It’s a momentous occasion. You’re nearly a man.”

Zuko nodded and glanced around at the tea table and the waiting servants. “I’m not too old for presents, am I?” he asked, trying and failing to hide his eagerness.

“Are you telling me you joined your old uncle for tea only to receive birthday presents?” Iroh asked in mock severity.

“No, Uncle!”

The boy was a terrible liar. Ah well, his heart was good. Iroh dropped the act with a chuckle. “Then I will tell you a secret, Prince Zuko: You’re never too old for birthday presents.” With that, Iroh nodded to a waiting servant who stepped forward and bowed low. Wrapped in a bundle of silk cloth were double dao swords—plain, but well made. An excellent set to practice with.

Zuko’s eyes were wide as he pulled the swords from their scabbards. “Thank you, Uncle. But… when would I ever use swords? I’m a firebender.”

“I find it’s wise to cultivate multiple skills. Throughout history there have been many firebenders who were also great sword masters. You are determined and inventive—there is no reason you cannot be both. And,” Iroh added with a wink, knowing this would sell the deal, “if you learned how to use them, you would then would know something your sister does not.”

That did it. Zuko’s pale golden eyes widened a little and his grin became true. He set the swords down and bowed. “Thank you, Uncle.”

Iroh smiled indulgently. “As it happens, there is a well known swordmaster in the city. Master Piandao is an old friend. If you are free this afternoon, he has agreed to show you the basics…”

He trailed off as a chill, unnatural wind will stole through the air, sending every hair on the back of his neck standing up on end. He glanced around the peaceful gardens, instinctively searching for the source of an attack—ready to shield his nephew at a moment’s notice.

Zuko’s teacup dropped with a clatter. The wind picked up around them, from a gentle winter breeze to a gale in seconds. The tea table flipped over and away.

Shielding his eyes from wind-whipped dust, Iroh reached to haul his nephew away…

… Only to see him encased within a sphere of air.

Zuko’s eyes, which were a normal pale gold a moment before, now glowed an unearthly blue.

“It… it cannot be,” Iroh whispered, backing away.

Servants screamed and ducked as debris flew in all directions. In the distance, noblemen and staff who were enjoying the gardens scrambled over to watch, mouths agape.

The wind was such a roar that Iroh was forced to move further away. He watched, stunned, as his nephew lifted several feet in the air, face utterly blank except for the glowing, ageless power shining out from him.

Zuko lifted his hands, and a blazing double ring of fire encircled around the air sphere. Dust rose from the ground and coalesced into orbiting earth. Finally, the fluted water rippled from overturned pitchers and joined the other elements in a shining ribbon.

All four elements, perfectly in balance. A harmony no one had seen in nearly one-hundred years.

People were pointing, staring, screaming for the guards.

Zuko’s fingers suddenly tensed and the elements flew in all directions, blasting out. Iroh was knocked off his feet as the earth roiled, wind roared, and fire and water shot over his head.

Suddenly, the moment was over. Zuko fell to the ground, caught himself and staggered, holding his head.

“Nephew?” Iroh croaked.

Zuko blinked and looked around, dazed.“Uncle Iroh? What are you doing here?” Then he gasped and for some reason clutched at his throat. “What happened?”

“The impossible.” It could not be. The Avatar had been missing for nearly a century, and he was supposed to be of Air. How had the cycle come back to Fire? “Nephew,” Iroh asked, hesitantly, “did you know?”

Zuko shook his head. He looked around, confused and unsteady as a newborn colt. “The sky was red… It—something went _wrong_. Did Aang return?”

“Who is Aang?”

A look of irritation bloomed over the boy’s face. “This isn’t the time to joke, Uncle.” He looked around. “Where’s Katara?”

What in the world was the boy talking about? Friends from school, perhaps? He was clearly disoriented.

They had no time. If Ozai learned what his son was capable of…

Iroh gripped his nephew’s shoulders with fierce intensity that startled them both. Zuko looked up into Iroh’s eyes and then frowned, opening his mouth to speak.

Iroh got there first.“Zuko, I know this will be hard for you to understand, but you are in grave danger. Your father—”

The boy jerked and glanced around wildly. There was real alarm in his eyes. “He’s here? Ozai?”

“In the palace, yes, but once he learns of you—”

“I know,” Zuko said grimly.

 _Do you?_ Iroh wondered. Why did it feelike he and Zuko were having two separate conversations?

Iroh’s next question was was interrupted by a shout.

“That’s him!” A nobleman pointed at Zuko. Several imperial guards stood behind him. “He’s the one. He attacked us all!”

Iroh’s heart sank. “Stay behind me, Zuko,” he said before turning and placing himself firmly between the guards and his nephew. Years of discipline, forged in countless battles in the Earth Kingdom let him keep his voice calm. He held up his hands to halt the oncoming guards. “Thank you for arriving. As you can see, there has been a misunderstanding…”

“A… misunderstanding?” The lead guard looked pointedly to what had been lush gardens a few minutes ago. Now, it looked as if a hurricane had ripped through them.

Iroh winced. “A rather poignant misunderstanding.” And as soon as he thought of it, he would tell him.

“Uncle,” Zuko hissed. He stood, covering Iroh’s back without having to be told, and was the first to spot several more guards coming from the other end of the gardens: Neatly cutting off an escape route.

Zuko also had picked up the dao swords and held them in a loose, but ready grip.

The lead guard stepped forward. “General Iroh, we’ve had several reports that Prince Zuko is responsible for this destruction, and assaulted several people.”

“It was him! The boy!” The nobleman yelled, voice high and hysterical. “He earthbent an entire patch of my prize tomato-cabbages. They were to be presented to the Fire Lord himself at harvest!”

“What?” Zuko squawked, rounding on the man. “No I didn’t! That’s absurd!”

“As you can see,” Iroh said loudly, praying to any spirit that would hear him. “My nephew was over-enthusiastic in practicing his firebending. There are forms known only to the royal house. Not to be practiced in the gardens,” he added with what he hoped was a quelling glare to the boy.

It was a thin excuse, and anyone who had actually seen the Avatar’s power would not believe it, but he only needed to buy time.

The guard, however, was unmoved. “Whatever happened here, our orders are for the Fire Lord to sort it out.” He gestured to his fellows. “Escort the General and Prince to the palace—”

Iroh sensed rather than saw Zuko strike out in a low sweep-kick toward the guards he was facing, generating a truly impressive amount of fire. Two of the firebenders were were knocked back by the sheer force of the blast.

The one remaining standing reached for the prince. Zuko ducked away in a lithe move Iroh had never seen from him before. Swords flashing, he struck the man upside the head with the flat of one blade. The guard went down.

“Uncle, run!” Zuko yelled.

Bemused, Iroh followed.

 

* * *

 

The palace grounds were a complex of noble and courtier housing, servants quarters and guest houses, and military research facilities, interspaced with gardens, and pathways. 

He and Zuko ran through twisting cobblestone roads and stopped in the shadow of one home. Zuko had led the way—and he had been wise enough not to run for the palace itself.

Something was _very_ different about the boy.

He was alarmed, but not frightened. He carried the swords with confidence and looked around with the eye of a battleground veteran expecting danger around every corner. But as far as Iroh knew, Zuko had only ever been in training with the royal firebending instructors.

What, exactly, had Ozai been drilling him in?

As he watched, the boy’s gaze turned inward. Then he caught his breath sharply and reached down to lift up his own shirt, to examine his belly.

“Zuko, what are you looking for?” Iroh asked.

“Scars.” Cautiously, Zuko touched the left side of his face, and then pulled his hand away, staring at it in wonder. “This can’t be happening.”

Iroh shook his head. He would ask later, when they had time. “Nephew, I know this is very confusing, but we must get away from here—from the Fire Nation if at all possible. I’m afraid your father will not… take this news well.”

“You think?!” Zuko’s head dropped into his hands, muttering, “This can’t be happening. Someone must of put something in my tea…”

Iroh paused. He expected a wholly different reaction. Zuko loved his father, for all that the man showed no affection toward him. Perhaps he was in shock. He tried another tactic. “There are people who may be able to help.”

“Let me guess,” Zuko said, looking up wryly. “The White Lotus.”

Iroh could have been knocked over with a feather. “Who told you—”

“There they are!” shouted a voice from down the road.

Zuko grabbed Iroh’s elbow and they were running again.

“I know a way out of the city,” Zuko said.

So did Iroh. Master Piandao would give them sanctuary at his estate, but only if they could shake the guards, first. 

“Where?”

His nephew grinned. “The Fire Lord’s been working on prototype war balloons, right?” He turned and headed toward one of the larger buildings set near the Capitol Prison—the one earmarked for experimental research for the war.

There was a staircase which led to the rooftop—abandoned now that it was lunch hour.

Iroh had heard of Ozai’s war balloons when he attended military meetings (and how, by all the spirits had Zuko known about them?). His step faltered as he laid eyes on the contraption, which sat on the rooftop. Iroh considered himself to be an openminded man, but the only people who had business being in the air were the long-dead Air Nomads.

“Nephew, I’m not certain this is a wise idea…”

“I can fly it, Uncle.“ Zuko did not break stride before he jumped into the basket and started fiddling with the onboard furnace.

After this was all said and done, Iroh thought, he was going to sit that young man down and have a chat about what he had been up to.

Zuko pointed to the lines which tethered the basket to the ground. “Untie the guidelines. I’ll stoke the furnace.”

Seeing wisdom in this, Iroh set his doubts aside and bent to the task. He had gotten three of the four lines released when no less than twenty imperial firebenders rounded of the stairs and charged toward them.

“Halt! Halt by order of the Fire Lord! ” one yelled. The others fanned out in a diamond flanking position.

His nephew had already lit the furnace and the balloon was beginning to rise into the air. “Uncle! Hurry! Get in!”

Iroh knew it was almost certainly too late for them both to escape, but seeing the look of fear and desperation on Zuko’s face, he had to make the attempt.

Gathering himself, he jumped and caught the rising basket. His nephew started to haul him in, but was forced to let go to block a blast of fire from the guards.

Iroh did not think about his decision—It was no decision at all. His nephew came first.

Letting go of the rising basket, Iroh fell back to the ground with a blast of his own. The balloon was still tethered to earth by a guideline, but if he could win Zuko’s freedom, the boy might have a chance…

The guards must have already been given orders to stop them at all costs, because Iroh was surrounded on all sides by fire blasts. However, he was a canny old firebender and his root was not so easily broken. He battled the flames back, but he was losing ground… There were simply too many.

He heard the boy he loved like a second son cry out his name.

The wind around them picked up and Iroh glanced up to see that once again Zuko’s eyes were glowing unearthly blue.

“ **Leave him alone!** ”

The voice that spoke was not Zuko’s—it was multilayered, powerful, and ancient.

The legends told that the Avatar state was defense mechanism before the Avatar truly came to power. It was brought on by high emotion and mortal threat to themselves or loved ones.

It was also rumored that until he mastered all four elements, the Avatar state was completely out of the Avatar’s control.

In a moment, the wind was howling like the fiercest gale. The Avatar slashed out with a fiery crescent that blew all of the imperial firebenders back, yet didn’t touch Iroh himself.

Unfortunately, the Avatar’s fire was also hot enough to sear through the remaining guideline that kept the balloon tethered.

The balloon rose swiftly into the sky, carried in an impossible wind.

“Zuko!” Iroh called, but the balloon was out of sight with such quickness that Iroh sensed the hand of the great spirits at work. Nothing else could have won Zuko’s freedom—someone or _something_ wanted the Avatar to complete his journey alone.

He sent a prayer up: _Stay safe, my nephew. I will find you again._

Only a few of the imperial firebenders were picking themselves up, and those had scorch marks on their armor. The rest seemed to be knocked out cold.

Iroh didn’t wait for reinforcements to arrive. He had an underground network to alert: Against all logic or reason, the Avatar had returned to the world as a firebender.

And he was the Fire Lord’s son.

 

* * *

 

 

One moment Zuko was watching, helpless and terrified, as imperial firebenders fired upon his uncle. Zuko cried out, and in desperation dug down deep, reaching at the limits at his bending—for something, _anything_ to help Iroh— but it was like grabbing live lightning.

Something immensely powerful reached _back_.

… And in the next moment, Zuko stood in dark mist. Beside him, hundreds of stiff, unmoving people stood in a line which stretched on and on back into the infinite past. With a shock, Zuko recognized Avatar Roku, and beside him Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Kuruk, Yangchen…

There was a gap beside Roku, separating him from Zuko. Looking at it, Zuko felt a loss of where every instinct told him Aang should be standing. It felt as if he were looking down at an empty grave.

“Aang?” he called.

Every head down the line turned to him in eerie synchronization. Every eye was lit a glowing blue.

Backing a step in surprise, Zuko bumped a warm shoulder. He whirled around to see he was not alone. Katara and Toph stood beside him, not in the line of Avatars but standing just outside of it, like he was.

Their eyes were firmly closed, their faces peaceful and lax as if in sleep.

Before he had time to process this, he woke up.

 

 


	3. The Tale of Avatar Zuko: Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used a quick narrative style for this chapter to condense the passage of time... or else this part alone would be, like, 50k. haha. But after this, the narrative slows down again to a more reasonable level.

Zuko woke when his war balloon crash-landed into a tree. For once in his life, he was lucky—the silks that carried the hot air was only twisted in the high branches, and he hadn’t been dumped completely out.

“… Uncle?” he asked, groggy. His limbs felt like led weights and there was a drag to his own chi as if he had spent the entire night bending.

The moon wasn’t out and starlight was thin. Where was he? What in all the spirits had happened? Had… had that strange world of dark mist and ancient Avatars been a hallucination?

… Or…?

Shivering, Zuko curled up in a corner of the basket. He had chased the Avatar for years before catching up to him. During that time he’d read every scroll he could get his hands on about Aang’s previous lives and the legends of the Avatar.

It was said the Avatar saw his previous lives just like that, on another plane of existence.

A wild, crazy, _impossible_ thought drifted through his mind. What if he was the Avat—

No.

No, it could not be possible.

 _As impossible as this?_ he wondered, his hand settling over the left side of his face. He felt whole, unburned skin. Uncle had been younger, too, with bits of pepper in his gray hair. Zuko had to look up to meet his gaze. He hadn’t had to do that in _years_.

His own body felt… different. A little more limber, a not as strong and resilient. His voice hadn’t dropped. He was… younger.

Against all sense or reason, Zuko had been thrown back in time. Just like in a wild spirit’s tale. How far, he couldn’t say, though it had been before his Agni Kai. Why or how, was an even bigger mystery.

… Had he been thrown back in time _and_ become the Avatar, too?

No. Surely the universe didn’t hate him that much.

Zuko regained some energy once the sun began to rise. He climbed to his feet and peered over the side of the basket. The trees were broadleaf—the type that lost their leaves in the autumn, unlike in the Fire Nation. Though in winter, the branches were bare.

He was in the Earth Kingdom.

Once he could see properly — like most firebenders, his night vision had never been so great— it was a simple matter for him to climb down from the basket to the tree and to the forest floor.

Then, taking a deep breath, Zuko clenched his fists and mentally grabbed for the earth under his feet like he would a campfire. Then, he brought his hand up sharply, to bend the earth.

Nothing happened. Not even a puff of dust.

He sagged, hands over his eyes. “Oh, thank Agni.”

He couldn’t earthbend, which meant he _wasn’t_ the Avatar. The vision of the mist must have meant something else—though spirits knew what. That destruction in the gardens had to have somehow followed him across time from the war.

Dropping his hands, Zuko straightened, a look of determination carved on his face.

Time to find out exactly where and _when_ he was.

 

* * *

 

The smell of smoke led him to a small Earth Kingdom town. On arriving, Zuko’s first order of business was to steal some drying clothes off a line and replace them with his own Fire Nation garments. Yes, they were dirty and smelled of smoke, but his finely tailored clothing would catch a fine price in market, so he didn’t feel too guilty.

In the town square, there were flyers set up on a bulletin board. He found the date.

He hung around the town for a few days, and thought idly of finding work. However, this was a town near the coast and was near a port the Fire Nation used to transfer food and supplies to troops inland.

Within a short amount of time a new poster of himself appeared on the town square board. His father wanted him alive and there was a traitor’s price on his head. His specific crime wasn’t mentioned.

It wasn’t the first time Zuko had seen such a poster, but it stung. At least he had somewhat earned it the first time.

The week after his twelfth birthday, Zuko became a fugitive from his own nation. Again.

 

* * *

 

Traveling alone in the Earth Kingdom the first time around had been some of the most difficult days of Zuko’s life—and that was saying something.

Now Zuko was younger.Less noticeable. The boy depicted in the poster wore his hair in a high phenix tail of a noble. Cutting his own off and keeping it short was one of the first things he’d done.

Nothing he could do about his gold eyes, but this time there was no distinctive burn covering a quarter of his face. Plus, if he ran into trouble he had his dao swords and pearl hilted knife. _Never give up without a fight._

Uncle was not there with him to provide optimistic thoughts. He’d had to supply those on his own.

It was hard. What was he supposed to do now? Search out the Avatar… again? Join Aang from the start? It wasn’t a bad idea, but Zuko had four years until Aang unfroze—unless he figured out a way to get him out of the iceberg early.

With no ship. No crew. No Uncle. No resources at all.

Somehow, the idea of showing up at the Southern Water Tribe, “ _Hello! Zuko here.”_ seemed like a very bad idea. Especially if, like Uncle, no one seemed to remember the future.

Without any concrete plan, Zuko moved on.

He was able to slip in and out of Earth Kingdom towns, but he noticed that gazes lingered on him. Some are speculative. Some are predatory in a way that sends every alarm bell ringing in his head.

He had no food, and had learned only the basics of hunting from Sokka. He could and did steal, but it was distasteful.

His only plan was to find his Uncle. Zuko had no memory after going into the Ava—After he visited that weird mist place. He was certain, however, that even if Iroh didn’t make it out… well. He’d proven he could break out of prison anytime he wanted.

Zuko visited Pai Sho haunts, there were no White Lotus marks anywhere, but so far he had only visited small towns. He’d likely have luck in a larger city.With that in mind, he turned his feet toward Omashu.

However, it was mid-winter. Unlike in the Fire Nation, temperatures plunged.

Zuko had heard of the Earth Kingdom killing frost, which struck the continent every decade or so. He had never experienced it before, but as the temperature plunged, he suspected he was now. The sky was a crystalline blue without a cloud to be seen, the air dry enough to crack his lips,yet a layer of frost and ice covered the ground. It was so cold that, even though he was moving, he had to use his breath of fire to keep warm during the day.

The night was even worse. In his threadbare Earth Kingdom clothing, he felt colder than he had even in a North Pole blizzard.

He had stumbled into a forest and there wasn’t any food or shelter to be found. His only chance was to walk. And walk. And walk.

He was at the end of his rope when he stumbled on the mouth of a dark cave at the base of a hill.

 _Somewhere I can rest?_ he wondered, staggering up to it.

He had just registered the smell of smoke when a voice from inside called out, “Who are you?”

Zuko opened his mouth, but was shivering so hard it took a few tries to squeak anything out. “Li.” It was the first name to come to mind. Old habits died hard.

A movement from within. A boy Zuko’s age—his real age of seventeen—walked out. He was hardy, barrel-chested Earth Kingdom stock, and hardly looked warmer than Zuko, though he had the forethought of wearing multiple layers. Probably everything he owned.

The large boy looked past Zuko suspiciously. “Anyone with you?”

Zuko shook his head.

The boy’s eyes narrowed and before Zuko could flinch away he touched the back of his hand to Zuko’s forehead.It wasn’t an attack, though. In a moment he drew it away. “Feverish,” he declared and then jerked his head to the cave. “Call me Gon. Come inside and sit in the back. We don’t have much, but you don’t look like you’ll last the night.”

Zuko knew he wasn’t sick, but his body did run a higher temperature than what the Earth Kingdom was used to. He followed Gon in, cautiously, one hand on his swords and ready to run, and found… other kids.

There had to be more than a dozen in the cave, all sitting miserably cold and sitting around a tiny, struggling fire. Gon was easily the oldest and had the air of a leader.

The air was only slightly warmer in the cave than out of it, but any improvement was welcome. Zuko sat in a free space.

“Here.” Gon shoved a bowl in his hands. It was thin broth—mostly water with just a hint of flavoring, but it was _warm_.

Zuko drank it gratefully and felt the fire inside flicker more strongly.

Gon watched him drink, seemed satisfied when Zuko kept the broth down. Then he knelt beside Zuko and jerked his chin to the fire. “Can you do anything to help with that?” His voice was pitched lower than a whisper.

Zuko froze and glanced up, but Gon just looked at him with expectation.

 _He knows I’m a firebender._ He wasn’t sure what gave it away. His eye color, perhaps. Or the fact he was so warm yet not acting feverish.

Zuko glanced from Gon to the tiny fire. Surrounded by a nest of cold coals, it was feeding off of a few twigs. What did this boy expect?

“More wood,” Zuko croaked.

Gon shook his head. “That’s the last of the dry stuff we have.”

And as soon as it went out, they would all be in a stone cold cave. No wonder he was willing to take a chance on a firebender.

Taking Gon’s cue, Zuko lowered his voice. “I’ll take care of it. Add the wood. Rocks, too.”

“Rocks don’t burn.”

“No, they’ll take heat and radiate it back out.” Setting the empty bowl aside, Zuko struggled to get to his feet, but Gon pushed him back down.

“Stay by the fire,” he said.

Before Zuko could object, the other boy was up and gathering wood from stores in the back. Looking around at the miserable, half-frozen children, it was easy to see he was the healthiest there, but determined to take care of them all. Like Uncle.

For the hundredth time Zuko hoped his Uncle was okay.

Gon returned with some wet logs and set them near the fire. Shivering, Zuko scooted closer.The days of walking and nearly freezing had tired him, but the broth had helped. If nothing else, Zuko could breathe, and if he could breathe, he could bend.

Slowly, breath after breath, he dried the wood out. At first glance, it looked like smoke was rising from the logs. Only if anyone were paying attention would they see it was steam.

Then, with a tiny gesture, he encouraged the flames to catch.

Gon nodded his approval, watching Zuko though he had been too engrossed to notice until then, and bent to add large round river stones around the flames.

The newly crackling fire soon warmed the cave, and the rest of the children begin to stir out of their stupors.

Zuko fell into an exhausted sleep.

The next day was just as cold as the last. The broth ran out—now there was only warm water to drink. It was better than nothing, and Zuko kept the fire going. It was their only defense against the cold.

The next day, however, was marginally warmer.

Gon threw a ratty blanket over his shoulders and went out of the cave without explanation. He returned, hours later, with a haunch of frozen meat over one shoulder.

“Farmer Sung lost half his ostrich-horse herd,” he said as he threw a leg in the water pot to boil.

Ostrich-horse meat stank at the best of times, and there was nothing but unseasoned water to boil it in. However, once the cooked meat was passed around and Zuko had his first bite, he swore he never tasted anything so good before.

Eventually, Gon sat by him again. He nodded to the fire. “We would have lost some of the kids for sure if that went out. You saved lives.”

Zuko shrugged. He had been saving himself as much as anyone else. “Is this an orphanage?” he asked, looking around.

“Not anymore.”

“That’s… ominous.”

Gon’s mouth pulled to the side. “The Fire Nation took over the village in the valley to the east. They killed a lot of the adults, so those of us that could went into the forest to hide. We take care of each other, here.” He paused. “We could use someone like you.”

Zuko glanced meaningfully to the fire. “Even though I’m Fire Nation?”

“Are you?”

He looked away. Even when he returned to the Fire Nation after Ba Sing Se, it hadn’t felt like home. And it wasn’t like he could go back.“Not anymore.”

Gon grunted. “What did you say your name was again?”

What did you say your name was? Not ‘what is your name’? This kid was smart. “Li.”

“Well, Li, like I said, you can stay. It’s up to you.”

Zuko thought about it, letting his gaze unfocus in the flames. “It’s not easy to travel by myself.”

 _I'll just stay through the winter_ , he told himself.

 

* * *

 

The group only sheltered in the cave when it becomes bitterly cold. Otherwise, they lived in surprisingly sophisticated tree houses—high and camouflaged enough to be out of sight. Zuko was impressed, despite himself.

Gon offered Zuko a spot to sleep in his own tree-hut.

“It would be best if you kept your bending to yourself,” he said quietly that night as they chewed over more of the boiled Ostrich-Horse meat. “Some of the kids live part time with extended family in the village. They may talk.”

“I understand,” Zuko said.

If word got out of a talented firebender who looked like the wanted prince to the wrong people—Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, it would bring trouble to this group. That was the last thing he wanted.

Some of the kids had friend and family in the village, but others lived almost completely wild. They couldn’t even read.

When it’s discovered that Zuko can, he was bugged into teaching the others. He wasn’t a good teacher, in his opinion. He snapped at the kids who want to goof off and disrupt the learning of others, and he didn’t have much patience with the slower ones— so he had the brightest sparks pair up with the dimmest. They helped each other and no one got yelled at. Win-win.

In return, Zuko learned how to butcher a freshly trapped animal, how to locate and identify non-poisonous winter berries, how to move through the leafy trees without a sound.

He had a bad start when one of the boys in his class turned out to be someone heknew from the past: Jet’s friend, Longshot. He had kept so quiet in the cave that Zuko never noticed him. Now, at eleven years old, Longshot was still deadly accurate with his arrows. He practiced obsessively through the day. So much so that there was little need to hunt.

There was no sign of Jet or Smellerbee, and Longshot seemed to have no memory of the future, either.

 _Like Uncle_ , Zuko thought with a pang.

The nearby valley village generally provided what the kids couldn’t scrounge up for themselves in the wild. That was mostly Gon’s job—he had contacts that would donate old clothing, blankets, and food scraps that would have otherwise gone toward the chicken-pigs. Instead, it was thrown into the communal soup pot and given to the wild children.

The food wasn’t often delicious, but it was filling for when there was nothing to be gathered and Longshot came back from a hunt, empty.

Winter melted into spring, which slowly heated into summer, and Zuko _knew_ he should leave, but Aang wouldn’t come back to the world for years.…

Zuko had been running since he was thirteen-years-old, the first time. Now that he’d stopped, he found he was tired down to his soul. Faced with the daunting task of searching for the Avatar _all over again_ , he started making excuses—dithering for almost the first time in his life.

In Ba Sing Se he played the role Uncle wanted for him as a common tea-maker. He had been tucked away, lost as an anonymous face in a sheer press of a city that didn’t even recognize the war at its own doorstep. Of course he was unhappy. Of course he had lashed out.

Here, he was on his own, partially responsible for a dozen of kids, and to his surprise he found himself up to the challenge. There was always a chore to do. A tool or piece of clothing to mend. A class to teach. A scrape to bind up in cloth.

Besides, he told himself during long summer nights, he had years until Aang returned to the world and less resources to look for him than before. He could wait.

He missed his Uncle, though. No one in the nearby village played Pai Sho. He had checked.

Slowly, without meaning to, Zuko lost himself in Li.

His second winter passed not as cold as the first, thank Agni. They only had to use the cave once.

Then, in the spring of his thirteenth year—the anniversary of his banishment the first time—Zuko spent the day scouting for early greens. They would help season the communal soup pot.

The sound of snapping brush behind him was his only warning. Zuko whirled around in time to see an angry moose-lion in mid-charge.

He should have blasted fire, but some instinct had him leap up, instead.

A gust of wind carried him up and over the animal, so high he nearly crashed head-first into a tree. He scrambled to hold onto a high branch and hung there, breathing hard, his eyes wide.

“What was that?” he demanded to no one.

But he knew… by all the spirits, he _knew_.

The moose-lion had been only defending its territory and soon moved on. Zuko climbed down from the tree. Then he stared at his own hands as if they had betrayed him.

He had faced Aang a number of times, and remembered him often making a particular circling move. Sort of a wide gathering and then a push…

Zuko did it and a breeze rustled the grass in front of him.

He sat down hard.

His uncle’s voice came back to him. _“Nephew, did you know?”_

“But I can’t earthbend,” he said to himself.

Neither could Aang, at first… And air came after fire. Not earth.

This was too… big. Too much to take in. It had to be a mistake. Zuko prayed to all the spirits it was a mistake.

He had battled Azula to be Fire Lord. Not… not this.

Agni. He was so very glad he didn’t stay in the Fire Nation. He might have gotten banished and told to hunt _himself._

Zuko started to chuckle—a high, hysterical sound— then bent forward, stuffing a fist against his mouth. His eyes blurred with tears. Hunched, he rocked for a few minutes until he could battle his sobs back.

Then, wiping his eyes, he sat up.

No. In the end, the fact he could airbend changed _nothing_. There were still kids to teach, food to gather, supplies to grab from the village. He just… he couldn’t think past that. He would go insane.

 _Aang_ was the Avatar, and as soon as he came back to the world, Zuko would join him and… and help him save it. Somehow.

It was still years away. He had time.

There was an entirely new feeling, a new desire growing within his heart. Zuko wouldn’t realize it until later, but it was a yearning for the freedom that only an airbender could crave.

 

* * *

 

 

Gon moved out of the forest that summer. He was old enough for conscription into the Earth Kingdom army, and was making noises about finding a wife and setting down, afterward. He was seventeen.

“You’ll understand,” he told Zuko, “when you’re older.”

Zuko, who had also been seventeen once, but who never viewed finding a wife as priority, did _not_ understand. But when Gon moved out, Zuko got his tree-hut all to himself.

“Take care of the kids. They’re yours now,” Gon said.

It was only then that Zuko realized at thirteen, he was one of the oldest left. Certainly, he was the most mature.

He couldn’t leave the kids so soon after Gon had moved away. Not when there was another winter looming ahead.

At night, he practiced airbending by manipulating the smoke around the fire.

Air was different. Fun. Soon, he found the wind always pushing at his back when he ran. Playful zephyrs curled around him, and he cut through and around them in a dance as he practiced with his dao swords.

Above, he could sense the sky was full of complex layers. He wished he had an air glider to explore them.

 

* * *

 

The Fire Nation was especially aggressive that year. The kids were safely hidden in the forest, but more villages up and down the nearby territories were conquered and burned.

Soon, more stragglers showed up. A large teenager named Pipsqueak joined the group. He was easy going and good with the littlest kids in a way that Zuko wasn’t.

Zuko was glad to have him aboard.

Then, just before the first snowfall, Jet arrived.

Zuko was out practicing his airbending in secret, and received a nasty shock when Jet came up to him, younger than he remembered, but with a wheat stalk hanging out of the corner of his mouth and hook swords stuffed into his belt.

“Hi,” Jet said, bright and so, _so_ young. “You’re Li, right?”

“Yes,” he said and quickly excused himself.

That night over the dinner fire, Jet spun a story of how his village was burned to the ground by Fire Nation troops, how his family who were innocent farmers, were killed right in front of him.

Zuko believed the part about the Fire Nation cutting down his family. What he didn’t believe for one second was that they had been innocent farmers. No farming family he knew of taught their children how to fight with specialized hook swords.

He kept silent, eating his stew.

 _This isn’t the same person who attacked me in Ba Sing Se_ , he told himself again and again. _He’s not that guy, yet._ But he wasn’t sure he believed it.

Jet found Zuko again a couple days later. “Pipsqueak tells me you’re in charge of teaching the kids to read.”

Zuko shrugged. “My parents taught me, _before_.” ‘Before’ was shorthand in the group for ‘before they were orphaned’. ‘Before they came to live here. ‘ ‘Before they lost everything.’

Jet’s stupid wheat stalk moved from one side of his mouth to another. “You should be teaching these kids to fight, too.”

“We do,” he said shortly. “Self-defense. How to fall correctly. That sort of thing.”

“Hmm.” Jet took a look around the idyllic tree-huts. “Aren’t you afraid the Fire Nation will find everyone up here?”

“No,” Zuko lied. Of course he was. Why hadn’t he ever bothered to ask Jet what had drove him to Ba Sing Se in the first place? “If they attack—me, Pipsqueak, and Longshot can give everyone else enough time to run.”

“Oh, right.” Jet leaned back against a rail, favoring Zuko with a warm smile. “I heard you use swords, too. You want to spar with me?”

This was too much. “No,” Zuko said again, pushing past him.

He knew it was unfair to hold a grudge against this Jet for what future Jet did, but he tried to out Uncle as a firebender. Plus, Zuko still felt shamed for his own actions at the time. He had been hurting so badly in Ba Sing Se. It had felt good to get out his aggression and fight the annoying kid—and he hadn’t given one single thought about him after he was taken away by the Dai Li. Not until he learned Jet was killed during that play.

So Zuko avoided Jet as much as possible, and Jet got the hint and never showed up for the reading classes. Maybe he already knew how.

Everyone else loved Jet, though. He dominated story time at the evening fire. He was outgoing, likable, but Zuko thought he caught a dark gleam in his eyes whenever he spoke of the Fire Nation.

Then items started appearing in the tree-hut village without explanation: tools, belt knives, warmer jackets and other clothing.

"Are those new arrows?" Zuko asked one day, while on a hunt with Longshot.

The other boy glanced at him and then looked away. Longshot spoke in the language of expressions and glances. Now, he was saying: _You don’t want to know where I got these._

"Yes I do," Zuko said. “Did you get a job in the village?" Some of the older kids did that for extra food and a bit of coin. He didn't because Fire Nation soldiers often passed through. Although it had been a little more than two years, his face still might be known.

Longshot shrugged.

Even though the boy didn't talk, Zuko felt like he had just been lied to.

 

* * *

 

More new items started showing up within the village. Then Jet got an actual long dining table, like something a rich merchant family would own, lifted to his own tree-hut. It had taken Zuko a solid year to get a tree-hut of his own. Jet had been there _three months_. And now he had a fancy dining table to go along with it.

Every night, Jet and the kids who followed him—at least three-quarters of the tree village population—stayed up late nights, laughing, talking and eating around their fire.

As a firebender, Zuko first instinct was to attack. Drive Jet away. But a voice that sounded suspiciously like Aang’s told him that if he did, he would be punishing the Jet of later-on for crimes the Jet-of-now had not committed. Being likable to everyone else was not a crime, and if more and more people left Zuko’s fire to go join Jet’s… well. Then there were less people for him to worry about.

He told himself it didn’t hurt.

Then Pipsqueak was soon eating at Jet’s stupid overblown dining table, and the brightest spark in Zuko’s class, a tiny boy who called himself The Duke, stopped showing up.

Suddenly there was only a handful of kids that Zuko could count on to help hunt and gather during the day. Those dwindled, too.

_What do they get up to all day?_

Suspicious, Zuko followed behind Jet’s group when they went out into the woods. He stalked them on silent feet—Skills he had honed from a different life came back to him, and a quick blast of air to send him high into the trees when anyone looked around suspiciously.

Zuko watched as Jet and his cronies set up tripwires across well-worn trader paths. Ambush points. That's how Jet’s came by all the new items. They were stealing it.

Anger caused Zuko to break cover. He dropped from the trees, dao swords in hand. “What are you doing?” he demanded. “What is this?”

Several of the kids had cried out and scattered, but Jet stood tall. “What does it look like?”

Zuko grit his teeth. “It looks like your mugging people on the road.” He swept one sword down. With the twang, it parted a thin strand of tripwire.

“Hey!” Jet complained. “For your information, we are stopping Fire Nation sympathizers.” He paused, his lips curling in a smirk. “You should be thanking us Freedom Fighters for keeping you safe.”

And there was the gleam Zuko had seen in Jet’s eyes before—the look of a fanatic. Once or twice, he wondered if rejecting his friendship on the ferry had pushed him over the edge. Now he suspected Jet had always been like that.

It made things both easier and harder.

“You aren’t Freedom Fighters,” Zuko said. “These trade routes help feed the village. If we mess with that then a lot of good people in the village are going to go hungry.”

“Who cares?” Jet snapped. “That village cooperates with the Fire Nation! That makes them our enemy.”

“Most everyone has family members who live there, or one just like it.”

A crafty look slid over Jet’s face. “But not yours, right? Where is your family, _Li_?”

Zuko tried to ignore that, but judging from the shifting feet and glances around him, Jet had scored a hit. He didn’t openly practice his bending, but those who had been in the cave that first winter probably guessed what he was.

Instead, Zuko turned and looked around the ring ofkids. Hardly anyone met his gaze. Longshot had his hat tilted over his eyes and was staring at his shoes.

“I understand having to do bad things to survive,” Zuko said. “But someone once told me that once you go down that road, you’ve surrendered to your lowest instincts. You can’t do that. You have to have hope because…” How did his uncle put it? “Because hope is the one thing you give to yourself. It’s the meaning of inner strength.”

He got blank stares in return. Zuko sighed. He wished his Uncle were there.

“Think about it. Okay?”

“Yeah,” Jet said flatly. “Okay.”

Several kids giggled.

Ignoring him, Zuko turned and walked away, hoping his Uncle’s words would be enough.

But they hadn’t been for _him_ back then. He didn’t know why he thought they would be now.

That night, Zuko sat and ate alone at his fire.

 

* * *

 

 

Later on he would curse himself for not pushing when he did. Maybe he felt more guilty than he thought about Jet’s future death but he should have listened to the firebender in him and attacked when his enemy was showing weakness.

Trouble came for him three nights later. Jet strode across the short rope bridge to Zuko’s hut with all his loyal friends in tow.

“I get it, now,” Jet said. “You're one of them, aren't you? Everyone was just telling me how you kept the cave warm the other winter, and you always have the _best_ fires at night. That's not natural.” He looked straight at Zuko and smirked. “No wonder you didn't want us attacking the enemies. They’re your family.”

Zuko stood. His swords were on his belt, his back to his fire… which indeed burned brighter than any other in the tree huts. Warmer in the winter, too. His spark rocks never failed to catch after the first strike.

He didn’t say any of this to Jet. It already felt like history was repeating itself. “You don't know what you're talking about,” he said.

“Is it true?” One of Jet’s loyal friends, a girl named Smellerbee asked. “You don’t like what we do because you want to protect the Fire Nation?”

Jet snorted. “Protect the Fire Nation? He’s probably reporting to them right now.”

“What would I even report?” Zuko snapped, exasperated. “How The Duke likes his meat cooked?”

Jet unsheathed his hook swords. They gleamed with fresh oil in the firelight. “Why don’t you tell us?”

Zuko had seen Jet just like this, before, remembered being so damned grateful for the chance to fight, to work out some of his aggression. Then Jet had been taken away by the Dai Li and ended up dead. And in some small way, it had been Zuko’s fault.

He wasn’t going to let it happen again.

What would Aang do? Talk to him, probably. _Ugh._ Zuko was terrible at that, but he had to try.

Keeping his own hands relaxed and away from his swords, Zuko met the other boy’s gaze. “Jet, you need to stop,” he said as sincerely as he knew how. “If you keep going down this path, you’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Are you hearing this?” Jet turned to his followers. More kids were joining from all directions, watching the drama with barely concealed glee. “This Fire Nation kid is trying to silence me!”

Zuko clenched his jaw. “I’m not, and it doesn’t matter what your Freedom Fighters get up to, anyway… The war will be over in a few years.”

“Yeah, because the Fire Nation’s will have taken over everything!”

“No,” he snapped, and could feel himself losing his fragile hold on his temper. “Because the Avatar will defeat the Fire Lord.”

Silence fell like a blow.

“What are you talking about?” Jet demanded after a moment.

“I…” He faltered. “I can’t explain how I know, but you have to trust me. His name is Aang, and he’s an airbender, and—”

“This is nonsense.” Jet stepped forward and slashed the air between them with one sword. “We’re Freedom Fighters, and that means we won’t allow Fire Nation our village. You need to leave. ”

Zuko stared. “This is my home.”

“Leave,” Jet said, low and dangerous,“Or I’ll make you.”

Zuko hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, but he had never been one to turn down a fight. “Well,” he said, mostly to himself. “I tried.”

Then he grabbed for his own dao swords.

Jet was on him the moment the swords were in his hands. They clashed in the firelight—even though it’s a few years earlier, Jet was just as good as Zuko. It didn’t help that Zuko hadn’t been practicing his swords as diligently as before. Jet smiled with teeth as he easily evaded Zuko’s thrust. One hook locked around the hilt of Zuko’s right sword, and it was only luck that it wasn’t yanked out of his hand. He parried with an aggressive faint that drove Jet back a few steps. Then Jet rushed forward again and they clashed around the fire, sending children scattering out of the way.

One strike locked their swords together and Jet drew in close. “Why don’t you firebend? Show everyone what you’re _really_ made of.”

Gritting his teeth, Zuko threw him off.

But then Jet backed up to the fire. With a sweep of one hooked sword, he flung a large, hot ember into the air. It landed on the roof of a nearby hut. The twigs and leaves caught fire at once.

Zuko looked on in horror. “Idiot! That’ll turn into a crown-fire. You’ll burn the whole forest down!”

Jet’s eyes glared back at him. “Stop the fire, then.”

The flames were already spreading and some of the smarter kids were scrambling for buckets of water, but it would be too late.

Gritting his teeth, Zuko gestured to the flames and brought them down under his control, extinguishing them.

“I knew it!” Jet crowed. “You’re a firebender. You’re working with the Fire Nation.”

Oh, to Koh with it. Zuko whipped around, and with a spiral motion of his hands, blasted Jet with air. The other boy was knocked off his feet and crashed into his sneering friends.

“You idiot!” Zuko yelled. “I’m an airbender!”

People gaped at him.

“But…” Pipsqueak rumbled, “I thought the Fire Nation killed all the airbenders.”

“We’re in hiding,” Zuko felt like laughing and sort of like weeping at the monstrosity of the lie. “Obviously.”

Longshot’s eyes glittered. “The cave?”

“I was moving hot air around. I can take air from a fire, too,” Zuko invented. He lowered his swords and looked down at Jet. “Still think I’m a Fire Nation spy?”

The other boy climbed to his feet and sent Zuko a resentful, sullen glare.

“Come on,” Jet told his friends, "Let's let the _airbender_ eat his dinner."

 

* * *

 

 

Zuko slept badly that night. He was half expecting Jet or one of his followers to try to take him out in the dark. But this was a tree-village full of children, not the Fire Nation palace, and no attempted an assassination.

They only stayed away. For the first time since he had come there, Zuko was shut out from the rest of the group.

He pretended it didn’t bother him, but it reminded him of his three years of banishment on the ship. He had been surrounded by his crew, but except for his uncle, he had been utterly alone.

For the first time in years, he felt like _Zuko_ again. Li had been a pleasant fantasy, but he didn’t stand up in the harsh light of day.

In the morning, he sat and drank his tea and wondered if it was time he should move on. Spring was just around the corner—it would take him a good part of the year to travel to the southern tip of the continent. From there, he could catch a boat to the poles. (Somehow.) Find Aang early. (Somewhere.) Reverse whatever had been done. (If it was even possible.)

“Li!” That was The Duke’s voice, high and panicked. “Li! Get down here!”

Immediately, Zuko grabbed a rope and slid down to the forest floor. “What’s happened?”

Because he could sense something _had_. It was in the air, building like a storm. Crackling like a fire about to spark.

The little boy stared at him from under an oversized helmet—one of the “gifts” from Jet’s group. “Jet wants to get rid of the firebenders in the village. He’s gonna… he’s gonna blow up the dam.”

“What?” Zuko whipped around and realized for the first time that the tree-huts were all empty. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed. “How?”

“Our last raid had a wagon full of barrels. Smellerbee said it was blasting jelly—Jet said…” the boy gulped down tears, “He said the village was full of Fire Nation, and the people there were letting them take over… but I don’t want them to get washed away!”

The wouldn’t get washed away. Zuko grew up in the Fire Nation, and he knew of the dangers of tsunamis. Destroying the dam would be a close equivalent.

Everyone for a hundred miles down the river would be crushed to death by debris before they had a chance to drown.

This time of year, the reservoir would be filled to the brim with rain and snowmelt. In another few months it wouldn’t be too bad, but…

“When did they go?” Zuko asked.

“A couple hours ago. I couldn’t sneak away until they got there. They were setting the barrels up.”

The dam was two miles away, just above the village. Zuko had no time. He might already be too late.

He paused just long enough to grab his swords, then he ran flat out. The wind howled at his back.

He had visited the village infrequently—even without the scar, anyone who had fought the Fire Nation would note the color of his eyes. And, as Jet said, there were troops often stationed nearby.

Today was a market day. The entire village was out, buying and selling in the small marketplace. There were Fire Nation officers bartering for goods for the troops stationed nearby, too.

Zuko cast a despairing glance at the dam which could be seen over the northern tree line at the edge of town. No sound. No smoke. No rushing water. He wasn’t too late.

Before he could think about what he was doing, he approached the highest ranked officer he could see.

“Lieutenant.” For the first time in years, he bowed Fire Nation style. “This town is in danger. There are Earth Kingdom rebels planning to blow up the dam as we speak.”

“What’s this?” The man barked, turning to him. He gave Zuko an apprising up and down look. “Who in Agni are you?”

“A messenger,” Zuko said flatly. His conversation was already drawing attention from the gossipy villagers. People were stopping to stare.

“We didn’t send for a messenger. Why are you out of uniform?”

He had either recognized Zuko as Fire Nation from his coloring or, more likely, sensed the spark of another firebender.

Zuko grit his teeth. “That’s not important. I… I came as quick as I could. You must evacuate this village, and send your men up to the dam—”

“I’ll do no such thing!” The Lieutenant reached for Zuko as if to grab him.

With a circling twist and a helpful puff of air, he stepped out of his reach. Now people had pretended not to be listening and were staring out right.

Zuko turned to them. “Please, listen to me! You’re in terrible danger. The dam is going to blow!”

“Sergeant!” the Lieutenant snapped, signaling to his men. “Take this boy into custody.”

Three firebenders peeled off from the booths and began to circle Zuko.

“I’m not your enemy!” Zuko snarled and pointed to the dam. “Please, get out of here. I don’t know how much time—”

There was the sound of a distant boom from the north.

All eyes turned from the drama in the village square to the dam. Now a thick layer of smoke rose up, garish against the perfect blue sky.

There was a distant rumble.

“Run!” Zuko yelled.

Someone cried out in terror. Men and women scooped up their small children. The ones with more sense pelted away—too many ran to their homes as if planning to shut out the water.

“Sergeant!” The Lieutenant snapped. He was Fire Nation, but no fool, and had turned from Zuko. “Get those idiots out of their homes and up the nearest hills. Set fire to the whole basted town if they have to.”

No time. There was no time.

The distant rumble was building. Trees which stood between the village and dam cracked and fell as they were swept away.

“Kid!” The Lieutenant grabbed Zuko hard on the shoulder. “Stop standing around. Get out of here!”

“No,” Zuko said. He knew there was no point in running. It was already too late.

He wasn’t the only one who knew escaping the oncoming water was futile. Nearby, a mother held her baby and wept. The firebenders were doing what they could to force people to flee, but it wasn’t enough. Some were fighting back—maddened with fear. They were all going to die.

“No,” Zuko repeated. “ **NO**.”

A sense of power swept through him, a force that shoved everything that Zuko was to the side as easily as if he were a child. The wind came to his call, whipping around him gale that picked up pebbles and flung them. Around him, people backed away, shielding their eyes.

Although he could not see himself, his eyes glowed with an unearthly light.

The wall of water roared in and Zuko raised his hands and pushed. It froze to ice in an instant. Then he reached to the bones of the Earth, deep into the bedrock, and brought a wall of rock up through the crumbly soil. A new dam was built up to hold the water back.

With a final gesture, the water unfroze and sank calmly behind its new dam wall.

Zuko watched himself do all this as if from far away.

Then, abruptly, he found himself standing again in that place of dark mist. The past Avatars regarded him with eerie glowing eyes.

He turned, seeking Aang, but found Katara and Toph.

As before, The little earthbender’s eyes were shut as if in a peaceful sleep.

Katara’s were open and they, too, were glowing.

Zuko came back to himself, shaking, kneeling in the dirt with the last of the wind subsiding. He stood at the base of the new dam—the one he had created—which stood less than twenty feet away from the first of the houses.

_I’m really am the Avatar._

He might have panicked if he didn’t feel drained to the last dregs of his energy. It was all he could do to stand and look around.

Everyone was staring at him.

One by one, the villagers bowed, murmuring reverently. “Avatar… Avatar…”

The firebenders looked towards their Lieutenant for help. He stared at Zuko and Zuko stared back, at a loss for words.

“Are you going to try to arrest me?” Zuko asked.

“You saved our lives,” the Lieutenant said. He looked around at the people, the buildings, his own men. Then he turned a hard gaze back at Zuko. “Get out of here before I change my mind.”

He nodded once. He would have run if he could, but he didn’t have the energy, so he walked away. Years of palace protocol kept his back straight even as he wanted to fall apart.

Jet and his cronies were gathered at the edge of the forest, safe on top the closet hill. They were there to watch the village fall. The Duke was with them.

Zuko realized dully that it had been a setup from the beginning. The boy had been held back and sent to tell Zuko just in time so he would be in the village when the dam blew.

He would have been enraged if he could feel anything at all.

Now most of the kids except for Smellerbee and Longshot stood slightly apart from Jet, horror and awe written on their faces. From their high vantage point, they had seen everything.

A latent bit of anger gave Zuko the energy to march up to them.

“You never told us you were the Avatar!” Smellerbee’s accusation felt hollow. He moved past her without looking.

And he punched Jet right in the face. No bending needed. The other boy fell back on his butt.

“You almost murdered an entire village full of families,” Zuko roared. “Other children! What is wrong with you?!”

To his surprise, Longshot was the one who spoke up. “It was supposed to be a message to the Fire Nation.”

“Is that what he told you? Kill hundreds of people for a handful of soldiers? You thought that was acceptable?”

Jet wiped his bloody nose and staggered back to his feet. “We thought there would be more troops there. I screwed up, okay? But you haven’t been honest with us, either, Li.”

“My name,” he said, straightening and looking down his nose at the other boy, every inch the prince he used to be. “Is _Zuko_.”

Jet hesitated and had the absolute nerve to flash a charming smile. “Zuko then,” he all but purred. “You’re the Avatar. You could have been fighting for us this entire time—”

“If I had, I would have brought war to our doorsteps.” He cast a glance behind him at the village with the new dam. “Now, none of you are safe. The Fire Nation knows you’re here, and they aren’t going to let this go.” Neither were the villagers, once they figured it out.

“What do we do?” Pipsqueak asked.

Zuko turned to Jet. “Why don’t you ask your leader? Ba Sing Se will be safe.” And would probably death for Jet, but that might be doing the world a favor. “There’s no war there,” he added with a sneer.

“But…you’re leaving us?” The Duke stepped forward, eyes wide. “Where are you going?”

Zuko turned away. In his mind’s eye, he saw Katara in that place of dark mist, her glowing eyes open.

“To see an old friend.”


	4. The Tale of Avatar Katara: Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to wait until Thanksgiving to post, but then I was like... why?

**The Tale of Avatar Katara**

 

* * *

 

No one in the Southern Water Tribe knew the exact day of Katara’s birth. In the sunless winters, it was easy for one twenty-four hour period to roll into the next without notice. Specific days did not matter. The Water Tribe were people of the poles, and spent the months of darkness in craft-making, in song, and telling stories to teach the next generation of their duties.

On this day, Hakoda was whittling designs into a walrus-eel tooth in his family’s hut. His mother, Kanna, sewed by the fire while the Katara played quietly with a doll. Sokka had picked up a smaller tooth and was busy copying his father, though with less skill. He would learn. He was a good boy.

At first Hakoda thought a sudden storm had hit the walls of their dwelling. In the sunless winters, blizzards could rise up from nowhere and rip at a dwelling’s walls. He looked around, seeking a gap which had let the cold wind in.

Then the fire went out and the only light visible came from a pair of glowing eyes.

The next few minutes were pure chaos and destruction. Somehow, Hakoda managed to battle through the whipping snow and howling wind to grab his elderly mother and son.

A sudden bloom of fire made him flinch, but lit the eerie scene in stark relief.

Katara—his little girl—was encased in a sphere of wind. Her eyes glowed like a spirit’s tale, while water, earth, and fire spun about her in a perfect circle.

“The Avatar,” he breathed.

 

* * *

 

 

Abruptly, Katara found herself standing calf-deep in snow. Startled, she looked around. There was no snow in the Fire Nation. Overhead, the stars twinkled like diamonds.The blood red sky she’d just been staring at was gone, as was the strange feeling of shattering loss that had nearly doubled her over.

Where in the world…?

“Gran-Gran?” she gasped, stumbling forward in the gloom toward figures she knew should not be there with her. And yet… “Dad?”

She looked around, disbelieving.

Against all reason, she was back home in her own village. People were peeking out from their own huts, calling out to one another, and Hakoda was staring at her with shock on his face.

“What was _that_?” demanded a familiar, but high voice.

Katara gasped and spun around. It was Sokka, but he looked no older than thirteen. He had his arms crossed over his chest. “Good going, Katara. Your magic blew up the house.”

 

* * *

 

"Legends say the Avatar is able to speak to and learn from their past lives,” Gran-Gran told her patiently.

"It's not a past life!" Katara said for the umpteenth time. "This is the future. I was there in the Fire Nation. Aang, the _real_ Avatar was fighting the Fire Lord." At least, she hoped he had been.

Her grandmother hummed and continued on with her sewing. Her eyes, though, darted to the perfect ice walls that encased their new family dwelling. Katara had built it to replace the one she had apparently destroyed (though she didn't remember doing it).

"Katara, your waterbending has never been stronger. Surely, you can see that,” Gran-Gran said.

"Because I learned from Master Pakku at the North Pole!“

Another old argument. Kanna had been briefly taken aback by the mention of Pakku, but had explained it away by saying she must have mentioned it in the child's presence before.

"Katara, this is a lot to take in," her father said gravely. "I can understand how you would be… confused."

 _Confused_ was quickly becoming Katara’s least favorite word. “I’m not the Avatar!” She gestured to the merrily burning fire. "I can't bend this!"

"Not now, perhaps,” Kanna said. “The mastery of all four elements will come to you, in time.”

"Maybe she has winter-dark madness?” Sokka offered and quailed when both Gran-Gran and Hakoda shot him a look. "What? We're all thinking it!"

"No we are not," Hakoda said. " _Confused_ isn't the same as crazy." Then he turned back to his daughter. "Katara, we have always known you've been a waterbender, but this... I know you’re too young to understand it now, but being the Avatar is a gift to the tribe. One day you will embrace it."

 _I'm not too young!_ She wanted to say. _I'm almost sixteen years old!_

But the reflection in the shiny piece of metal they used as a mirror said differently. She had a child's chubbiness to her cheeks. Her womanly curves had not developed, and little scars and marks she had received from her travels had disappeared. Katara was twelve-years-old again.

And her own family didn't believe her.

 

* * *

 

Her father had originally taken the tribe’s men and sailed away on a heartbreakingly beautiful day on Katara’s twelfth spring. No one had said it, but they had all known that it was a last-ditch effort to turn the tide of the war.

Now, the Southern Water Tribe had an Avatar to protect within their own village. Finally, after almost a century of Fire Nation attacks, they had hope. The men stayed.

And if their new Avatar spoke of her past lives as if they were the present… well. She was only a child, and most children had a strong sense of imagination. Combined with the vast knowledge and wisdom of the Avatar spirit… she was bound to seem a little odd at times. They loved her all the same.

 

* * *

 

Katara was restless and confused. She wandered her village, seeing for the first time how tiny it was. How isolated.

She had been traveling the world for the better part of a year, and as much as it felt terrible to admit… life in the South Pole was small, and she was used to so much grander.

And she was so very alone. Katara quizzed Sokka whenever she could, but he remembered nothing of the war. Nothing of _Suki_. In desperation, Katara had even spent one afternoon humming ‘Secret Tunnel’, the most infectious ear-worm in existence. Sokka just gave her that look he did so often nowadays—the one where he was thinking she was nuttier than arctic-squirrel poop, but would get yelled at by Gran-Gran if he said so.

Worse, he had reverted back to his old way of thinking a woman’s place was doing the chores, and a man’s duty was to hunt and fight. He was insufferable at times.

She had to beg him to take her with him on his fishing trips on his canoe. He only warmed up to the idea when she was able to use her waterbending to push the canoe to the fishing grounds faster.

While he fished, she practiced her waterbending—tipping up distant icebergs end over end, looking for a glow. One of them _had_ to have Aang inside.

Every time, she turned up nothing. There were hundreds of icebergs in the water, and they drifted about, changing positions every day.

The snow and ice receded in the height of summer to expose bare patches of rock. The icebergs decreased in frequency, or else floated out to sea out of Katara’s reach.

The last hope for the Water Tribe she might be, but she still had to help with the summer chores, the harvest and fishing, cutting, mending nets, and gathering the fruits of the sea. Her waterbending skills helped reduce the workload, but… it all felt so pointless. There was so much more she could be doing.

She could help stop the war.

 

* * *

 

"No, Katara," her father said, crossing his arms. "That's out of the question."

"Kyoshi Island is neutral in the war!"

"You don't know that for sure,” Hakoda answered.

"Yes I do! It won't take long. I can take one of the smaller ships—I could bend my way there and back within a couple of days.“

“All alone? Young lady, you are getting above yourself," Gran-Gran said.

"I know what I'm doing!"

"Don't take that tone with your grandmother," Hakoda said. "And you're not going. If word gets to the Fire Nation that the Avatar is here—“

Months ago, she had stopped correcting them that the _actual_ Avatar was out to sea, locked in ice. It was just… easier that way.“The Kyoshi Warriors will keep my secret. I trust Suki, and if she remembers the future like I do, then I can prove to you I'm not making this up.” She looked up at him, begging. “Dad, please, trust me."

He looked a little pained, like he always did when she mentioned people she knew from the future. "I'm sorry, Katara, but no. Perhaps when you're older, when you've gone ice-dodging as an adult—“

"I _am_ an adult!" she yelled, and before her father could reprimand her again, stomped out of the hut.

As she left, she heard Hakoda murmur, “When did that child become so stubborn?”

Blinking back frustrated tears, Katara ran as fast as she could—wanting to get away. Somewhere, _anywhere_ else. But there was nowhere to go. Before long she was at the shore where rocky beach met sea, and she was forced to stop. There was nothing around her but distant huts and bare tundra.

She wanted to rip out her hair in frustration. Aang was somewhere out there, Sokka didn't remember anything, and Zuko was... What if he were still banished and looking for the Avatar? That was a chilling thought.

Well, if crashed his ship into their village again he was going to get quite a surprise…

... Years from now.

She wanted to throw something, but there was nothing but dirty ice and patches of bare rock around. “I HATE THIS!” she yelled, gesturing wildly. She had half a mind to create a giant wave just for the satisfaction of crashing it down on a distant iceberg—

But rock rumbled beside her, instead.

Her first thought upon hearing that was: ”Toph?"

She spun about, looking for her friend, and her mouth dropped open.

A small pile of gravel had scooped itself out of the ground at her gesture and piled itself obediently at her feet.

She backed up as if were a dangerous animal. The rock sat there like… rock.

_Did I do that?_

Carefully, looking around to see if anyone was watching, Katara flattened her palms and shoved to the side. The gesture wasn't anything like waterbending—it was hard and unyielding. The sort of move Toph would do.

The pile of stones and sand refilled the hole.

_I just earthbent._

Tears in her eyes, she looked out to the distant, ice-crusted sea.

"Spirits... what is going on?"

If any spirits were listening, none of them answered her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The first snows of winter fell early that year. By then, Katara made sure to pile rock and grit from the beach into a mound by her family's tent. In the near permanent ice and snow, she had to work to keep bare earth clear to work on her bending.

In the long days of winter, she practiced with rocks, moving them back and forth along the length of the floor. Then she stacked stones in towers that reached to the ceiling—fragile-looking at first glance, but so strong that even Sokka couldn’t tip them over. She even stuck her hands into buckets of earth and tried to "see" through it the way Toph did. She got nowhere.

Air and fire remained out of reach.

Hakoda and Gran-Gran were visibly pleased at her progress. Her father bragged about her when the tribe gathered at the great roundhouse, and Katara was called up to show them what little earthbending she could do to great applause.

Sokka rolled his eyes at her "magic" but... well, he pretty much had the first time, too.

She stopped talking about the future all together. It was easier that way. For Father, for Gran-Gran, for Sokka and the rest of the tribe… just not for herself.

 

* * *

 

The next spring and summer she worked diligently with her earthbending, trying to remember the moves Toph had made. Even in the warmer seasons, it was too cold to walk around without shoes like her friend had, but there was something... calming about working with rock.

Excusing the pun, Katara felt grounded, unshakable. The whole world didn't make sense, but when she was shoving around rock she felt _strong_. Like she could break through any obstacle. Nothing could stand in her way.

She lost the last of her baby fat, and ropy muscles showed on her arms even though she wasn't manually moving the rock. With the men around to hunt, she ate better, too. She was more fit now than she had been the first time.

 _When it comes time to fight the Fire Nation again_ , she told herself. _I’ll be ready._

 

* * *

 

 

Then, in the late summer of her thirteenth year, a green Earth Kingdom sail appeared on the horizon.

Katara stared out, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. The Southern Water Tribe never received visitors or traders from the Earth Kingdom. This had certainly not happened the first time around.

From distant shouts—carried on the wind from the village—others had noticed, too.

Katara's mouth firmed, and with a sweep of her arms, froze a block of ice on the water. She stepped aboard and it carried her out to sea.

Whoever was sailing the little boat wasn't an expert. There was too much slack in the lines and he—for there was only one figure aboard—seemed to be having trouble figuring out how to tack the boat to the wind to bring it in.

She drew closer and her heart skipped a beat. She knew that tall, gangly figure with the dark hair.

"Zuko?"

_I'm not alone! I'm not crazy. He’s here, which means everything I remembered is real!_

In her shock and excitement, she forgot that the first time around, Zuko had been her enemy. That it might be wise to be cautious.

She gathered the sea behind her, and a wave of water lifted her onto the deck of the small boat.

"Katara?" Zuko asked, stunned.

Then she was hugging him, just as tightly as she had on the pier at Ember island.

He was the first to draw back, holding her at arm's length. "You're here…?” he asked, as disbelieving as she was. “You really remember me?"

She didn't answer right away, she was too busy staring. "Zuko... Your face." She lifted her hand to brush against his left cheek.

He grinned, and there was something carefree in the expression she had never seen from him before. Maybe it was the lack of permanent glare. “Well, I wasn't going to stick around and let my father do it to me again." Then the smile faded, replaced by the serious boy she had known so well. “Katara, we went back in time. Do you know why this happened?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember—“

"The sky was red, I know." He sighed. "Suki doesn't remember. I stopped by Kyoshi Island before here. She had no idea who I was.”

"Zuko," she said seriously. "You didn't burn down their village again, did you?"

"No!" he squawked, before he admitted, "But I did steal one of their sailboats."

Ah, that explained why he was sailing a boat with Earth Kingdom sails.

She giggled and he laughed too, and then they were hugging again, and it was so, _so_ good to be around someone who didn't think she was _confused_.

 _... I'm going to have to find a way to tell him I'm the Avatar,_ she realized, stomach sinking.

"Katara!"

Her dad's voice floated over the water. Most of the village stood at the shore, watching her laugh and hug a strange boy.

Zuko seemed to realize it, too. He sprang apart from her and set to work fiddling with the sails. "Guess, I'll just..."

"Yeah," she said, blushing. Then she shook herself. Was she a master waterbender or not? “No wait, I'll get it."

With a sweep of her hands, she adjusted the currents of the water to bring the littlesailboat neatly to shore.

Her father strode forward to meet them, looking more dangerous than she had ever seen. Even during the day of black sun.

"Katara," Hakoda said. "Who in the world is this?"

"This is Zuko. He’s—“

"I'm the Avatar," Zuko said.

There was a beat.

"No you're not," Katara turned to him. " _I_ am."

Zuko's eyes widened—both of them. That was going to take some getting used to. "Show me."

At a gesture, a globe of water flowed into one of hands. Then, with an upraised fist, she raised a small pillar of earth from the rocky beach. "See?"

In answer Zuko held out one hand. A flame lit within—some of the Water Tribe visibly flinched. Then he twirled his other hand and a visible ribbon of air twisted through his spread fingers.

Katara and Zuko stared at each other, grave.

"Something has gone very, very wrong," Katara said softly.

 

 

 


	5. The Tale of Avatar Katara: Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is where the snark begins. And... it doesn't let up from here. I don't know why Katara and Zuko interact this way in my writing, but it'll just get worse when Toph comes along.
> 
> Speaking of Toph, I know I promised some of you she'd show up in this chapter, but as usual the Water Tribe captured my imagination and didn't let go. We'll get to her soon, I promise!

 

"Do me a favor," Zuko said quietly he and Katara they walked back up to the village together."Don't mention I'm the Fire Lord’s son. I don't think your dad will warm up to me until I break him out of prison again."

Zuko might be a total stranger and have Fire Nation pale skin and gold eyes, but the people of the Water Tribe had manners—especially to someone who might be a _second_ Avatar.

After Hakoda had gotten over the initial shock, Katara was told to introduce Zuko to Gran-Gran Kanna and find some clothing more... appropriate to the South Pole. The context being, their strange guest was going to stay for _awhile_.

Her dad, meanwhile, was back at the shoreline, busy examining Zuko's sailboat, with a look on his face that suggested he was considering stripping it down for parts.

"Good plan,” Katara agreed. “What do I tell the Tribe, if anyone asks?”

"If it comes up, tell them I'm Iroh's son. It was practically the truth—the first time, anyway."

She nodded. “Are you down here looking for Aang?"

"No, I mean yes, but... also for you." Glancing around to see if anyone was close enough to listen, he pulled her to the side, between two neighboring tents. "Have you gone into the Avatar state yet?"

"No.” A beat. “Wait, you have?"

He nodded. "Twice, I think. I have a lot more respect for Aang, now.It's... intense. But when it happened, I saw you."

"Me?"

"Yes, on a sort-of spiritual plane. I saw all of the past Avatars, stretching back through through the centuries. Then you were beside me. Toph, too, but she was... it was like she was asleep." He let out a sharp breath, a habit she remembered him having when he was about to deliver bad news. "I didn't see Aang anywhere."

Her heart felt like it was contracting in her chest. "That doesn't mean--"

"I don't know what it means," he said quickly. "But there was an unbroken line of Avatars, then a gap where Aang should be. I think Aang’s lost. We need to find him."

_Aang… Spirits, what happened to you?_ she thought.

"I've been looking,” Katara said, though she knew she could have been doing more. She _should_ have been doing more, but there had always been chores to do, earthbending to teach herself…

"Well," Zuko smiled that dopy half-smile. "You didn’t have me with you before. I'm the Aang-finding expert."

"You're the Avatar-finding expert," she said. "And you found _me_."

He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a sharp, shocked voice.

"Katara! Who is that?"

Sokka rounded the tent, a rope of fish hanging off one shoulder. He had been out fishing with Bato and missed all the excitement of the incoming sailboat.

Zuko's eyes lit up. "Sokka!" He stepped forward to greet his old friend.

Katara reached out and grabbed his elbow. “He doesn’t remember.”

Zuko stopped and looked sharply from her to Sokka and back again. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "That must have been really hard.”

Unexpectedly, she felt stinging behind her eyes. It had been hard. She and Sokka had always been playmates, but they grew really close during their travels with Aang. And he remembered none of that. She was back to being just his annoying little sister again. “Yeah. It has."

“Hell-lo!" Sokka waved one mitten between them. “Who is this new guy—? Wait, are you Fire Nation?"

"Yes, I am," Zuko said firmly and before Sokka could object, clapped him on the shoulder. "And you don't know it yet, but we're going to be good friends." His smile was sharp as a dragon's.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Katara and Zuko were called to sit with the elders in the tribe’s great roundhouse. Hakoda was there, as Chief, flanked by the oldest and wisest of the tribe—two older warriors and Gran-Gran.

Give it to Zuko. He understood without being told how important this was. He bowed deeply—though Fire Nation style— and followed Katara’s example by sitting cross-legged in front of the council.

“The elders and I have been in discussion,” Hakoda began, “And we have never before heard of two Avatars in the world at the same time.”

“Two Avatars among us,” muttered one of the old men, “surely a favor from the sprits to the Water Tribe…”

Hakoda fixed Zuko with a stern look. “The next Avatar, after air, was to come from the Water Tribe. Yet, here you are. How do you account for this?”

“I can’t,” Zuko said. “Aang is the true Avatar. I am— _was_ — only his firebending teacher.”

Hakoda looked slightly pained, as he always did when time travel was mentioned. It took every ounce of self-control Katara had not to grin.

“And you knew Katara in this… future?”

“And Sokka,” Zuko confirmed. “We were friends.”

Suddenly, Hakoda turned to Katara. “Do you vouch for this Fire Nation boy?”

“I do.” It actually surprised her how easily she was able to answer. No hesitation. Who would have thought, after the first time he crashed into the village that she would speak up for him? “Zuko’s saved my life, and we’ve fought together. I trust him.”

Zuko ducked his head, looking both embarrassed and pleased. “And she’s saved mine.”

Gran-Gran spoke up. “The Fire Nation are a people of pride and honor. We will have your word, young man, that you mean no harm to any in this village.”

Zuko stood and bowed low, again. “You have my word on my honor. I offer no one in this village harm, and will only fight if forced to in self-defense. In its way, thehundred year war has broken the Fire Nation as well. I believe it is my destiny is to stop it and bring balance to the world. ”

“Pretty words,” one of the elders scoffed.

_Oh, he has no idea how serious Zuko is about honor…_

Katara stood, too. “Dad, we need to find Aang. He’s the key to all this. I just know it.”

Hakoda nodded. “Considering all that is happened, Sokka is to go with you whenever you leave the village." He paused, then added, "And while you are out today, I expect you to catch enough fish to contribute to tonight’s dinner.”

Of course he would want their search to be productive. The Water Tribe lived on the edge, and if they did not hunt, gather, and fish, they did not eat. This was something she had grown up knowing, but from the swift look of surprise Zuko sent her, he wasn’t used to fishing being regarded as important as _finding the Avatar_.

She waited a beat for anything else, but the elders were climbing painfully to their feet. The meeting was adjourned.

That was it. No apologies for a full year-and-a-half of not believing her—she wasn’t completely sure if anyone actually did. They had only wanted to make sure the Fire Nation kid had sworn not to do anything too-evil.

Suddenly, Katara wanted to be as far away from the village as possible— out on the open ocean. Even if it was in Sokka’s canoe.

“Come on,” she said tightly to Zuko. “Let’s go find Aang.”

 

* * *

 

 

They took their time to the iceberg fields, paddling more than using Katara's bending. On the way, she and Zuko traded stories of what happened to them over the last couple years since they went back in time. Neither said it, but they didn’t mind Sokka listening in. Maybe it would knock a memory loose.

And it felt so, _so_ good to speak openly about everything that had happened with someone who had been there, too.

"So, Jet is just as bad as before?" Katara asked.

Zuko snorted. "Maybe worse. Whatever the Fire Nation did to him cracked his brain.”

"That's what happens when the Fire Nation takes over," Sokka grumbled from his seat in the canoe.

" _You_ didn't like Jet very much, either,” she told her brother. “He tried to kill you, the first time. "

"To be fair, Jet wasn’t special,“ Zuko said, "I tried to kill Sokka, too.”

Sokka sputtered. "Katara! Did you know that?"

Katara made her eyes big and innocent. "You _did_ , Zuko? _When_?"

"Hmm.” He pretended to think back. “Well, there was that time with the pirates, and at least once on Crescent island, and Kyoshi Island, and when he called me Sifu Hotman one too many times….Hey, does the assassin count?"

"I think it should,” she said magnanimously. “Don't forget Ba Sing Se."

“Who can forget Ba Sing Se?”

"You're kidding." Sokka looked between them. "He's kidding, right?"

Katara grinned. "You know, I don't think I ever got the full story about what happened with you two at the Boiling Rock..."

Zuko laughed his dorky, hiccupping laugh and cast a fond glance at Sokka… who returned it with a glare.

“What happened at the Boiling Rock stays at the Boiling Rock,” Zuko said.

Eyes wide, Sokka appealed to his sister. “Katara!"

"Oh look," she said brightly, stowing her paddle away. "We're here."

Zuko stared around. Most people might be deterred by the literal miles of floating icebergs, but if Jet was a little cracked in the brain, Zuko was a _lot_ cracked in the brain.

"Do any of these look familiar to you?" he asked.

"Not really," she admitted. "None of them are glowing."

"Glowing," Sokka repeated as he moodily exchanged his paddle for a fishing pole. He was in a foul mood today. "You never told me you were looking for a glowing iceberg all this time.”

Zuko hummed under his breath. They were coming along side a tall behemoth of an iceberg. Before Katara could do otherwise, he stood in the canoe.

"Watch it, new guy!” Sokka snapped. "You're going to tip us over—“

Zuko leaped.

Katara had seen Aang pull the same move hundreds of times. So much so that it became common place. To her eye, Zuko wasn't quite as light as Aang had been, but the wind billowed him upward so that his jump took him easily three times his own height. He landed easily at the top of the iceberg. Then he turned, looking down at them.

"Come on, Katara. The view's great!"

"Don't!" Sokka made a grab for her.

Katara was no airbender, but surrounded by her element, she didn't need air. A wave of water picked her up and washed her up the iceberg. She stepped off the top of the wave, grinning.

Zuko looked over the side. "I think you soaked Sokka."

Whoops. "Sorry!" she called down to him.

Her brother sputtered at her, ringing out his dripping parka. "How come every time you play with magic, I get wet?"

Grinning, Katara turned to Zuko. "How did you do that with airbending? I haven't figured it out."

"A lot of watching Aang, and a _lot_ of trial and error," he said with a wince. "I haven't had any luck with earth, yet. Or water.”

She looked around. Out in every direction as far as she could see, were floating icebergs. New ones were being made out of chunks of ice cracking off glaciers, and old ones melted. Some floated away, and some floated in on the ever-shifting currents.

Aang could be in any one of them, or none at all.

She looked at Zuko. "This would go faster if there were two of us looking. Want to try waterbending?"

His eyes lit up.

They stuck around for an hour, but as many times as Katara explained the push and pull of water, Zuko couldn’t so much as churn foam. Finally, with the sun quickly sinking, she gave up and started moving icebergs on her own. Nothing glowed. No icebergs cracked open with a jet of blue light.

Soon, Sokka was complaining again, and Katara knew they had to return with fish enough for dinner or else her father wouldn’t let them come out again. Reluctantly, they returned to canoe.

“We’ll find him next time," Zuko said.

She tried not to let the sting of disappointment get to her, but it was hard. “I’ve been searching for over a year."

"It took me three, the first time.” Zuko’s expression was determined. "I'm not ready to give up yet."

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Your father took the mainmast off my sailboat," Zuko said, two weeks later.

Oh Appa turds. She was hoping he wouldn’t notice that. Like a true waterbending master, she decided to turn the conversation back on him. ”Is it really your sailboat if you stole it from Suki?”

"If I stole it, it's now _my_ sailboat," he said, firmly. “Yes or no. Am I a prisoner here?"

She rolled her eyes. "You are so dramatic."

He turned to her, one eyebrow raised.

"You're not a prisoner," she insisted. "You're just—My dad probably won't let you leave the village on your own. Or without a guard… because he doesn’t want word about people with Avatar powers getting to the Fire Nation.” She sighed. Yeah, Zuko was sort of a prisoner here. So was she. “He was never this protective, the first time."

Now it was Zuko’s turn to roll his eyes. "If I really wanted to leave, I wouldn't let a missing mast stop me."

" _I_ want to leave," she said. She should have felt bad admitting it, but she didn't. The wider world called to her. "Does it bother you? Being here?”

He was quiet for a moment. "No. I mean, _yes_ it bothers me a little that Chief Hakoda doesn't trust me, but it's not like we have the same… history, as before.” He gusted a sigh. "But we need to find Aang, and there's nowhere else for me to go."

"What about your uncle?"

"He could be anywhere, and he can take care of himself. I’d bet anything he’s with the White Lotus right now.“ But he seemed troubled. Crossing his arms, he looked down. “We need to find Aang, and undo whatever this is. The world needs an Avatar. _One_ Avatar.“

But as many times as they went out in the canoe (with Sokka chaperoning—Hakoda insisted, much to Sokka’s disgust) they came back empty.

Summer was ending, and the short polar autumn was starting. That meant harvest season. There were only a few weeks before the winter storms, and after that, polar darkness. Her father started making noises about needing more hands to help with all the work.

Zuko wasn't exactly skilled at fishing, but he did have talents at hunting and trapping. "I lived in the Earth Kingdom for two years. I picked up a couple tricks,“ he said, showing off a complicated knot to snare small animals.

The men looked on appreciatively. They hadn’t exactly embraced him—most didn’t know what to think about _two_ who could bend multiple elements, except that it was surely a sign of favor to the Water Tribe from the spirits— but they had grown used to their “guest”.

It helped that Zuko hadn't acted like a megalomaniac and/or set fire to anything… And that Katara had never got around to mentioning Zuko was the Fire Lord’s son.

Through mutual agreement, they decided to keep that surprise from Sokka until later.

 

* * *

 

Occasionally, they tried to teach each other the basics of earth and air, but both had taught themselves what they knew instinctively and from what they remembered of their previous lives; Zuko from studying Aang (to capture him, and later to teach him) and Katara from being smacked around by Toph for the better part of a year.

"What if this is it?" Katara asked hopelessly one day when she failed to get air or fire to bend. "There's never been two Avatars at the same time, before. What if we can only bend two of the four elements?”

"I bent earth and water when I was in the Avatar state," Zuko said. "It will come.” He gave up trying convince a rock to roll over with angry pushing motions and considered. “I think we're stuck in the Avatar cycle,"

She looked askance at him. "What?"

“Well… air comes after fire. Earth comes after water."

"And Fire and Water are opposite elements..." she finished. "Aang had a terrible time learning Earth. Toph was never happy with his bending."

"He could have used a lot more work with fire, too,” Zuko admitted. Then he winced. "We sent him to face my father and he wasn't prepared, was he?“

Aang had almost mastered water, but _almost_ wasn’t good enough. Not against Ozai. What in the world had they been thinking? 

The answer, of course, was that they hadn't had a choice. They'd simply run out of time.

"He will be this time," she said.

And if Aang wasn’t ready… well. Katara would make sure that _she_ would be.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Unless Katara could corner her Sokka into using his canoe to go out to the ice floes—even then, she had to get Hakoda or Gran-Gran’s help— Sokka pretty much avoided Katara and Zuko like the plague. Her normally goofy big brother had grown downright snarly over the last few weeks—not bouncing back from normal sibling teasing, and spending much of his time out “hunting with the real men”.To say he had not warmed up to the tribe’s second Avatar was an understatement.

Zuko got a tragically sad face whenever Sokka gave him the cold shoulder.

"He'll come around," Katara said. "He's been that way with me, too."

Zuko, though, only sighed. "He has a bending prodigy as a younger sister. That’s tough. I know what he's going through."

"No, he—" Katara's mouth snapped shut as she _really_ thought about how everything must look from Sokka’s point of view. Last time, she could barely control a globe of water, and that was when she had been starting from liquid! Now she was the Avatar-- _an_ Avatar at least—, a waterbending master, and she had easily befriended the only other teenager in the village. She and Zuko had stupid inside jokes, for spirit’s sake.

But she wasn't blind. She also saw the comparison Zuko was drawing. "I'm not like Azula!”

His eyes widened almost comically. "I'm not saying you are—unless you tried to kill Sokka when you were kids?"

"No, of course not. Wait, Azula did that?"

"Eh." He wiggled his hand back and forth. "There were accidents. No one could ever pin anything on her."

His family was _so_ messed up, but it wasn’t like _that_ was new information.

Katara slumped. “I’ve been a bad sister.”

“No, you haven’t. I’ve just been where Sokka has.” He shrugged, trying and failing to act nonchalant. “He’s lucky. He has a great father and a sister who cares for him.”

She caught the wistful note in his voice. “I’m sorry, Zuko.”

“Don’t. I had Uncle. Then, later, I had you guys.”

She smiled at him and he smiled back.

 _He’s one of my best friends,_ she realized _. When did that happen?_

Strange, she hadn’t had that thought before. First Zuko had been an enemy, then an untrusted ally, and then, after their ‘field trip’, a friend. Then had come the Agni Kai, and…

_I guess helping someone fight their insane sister for the throne is one of those lifelong bonding experiences._

Katara looked down, pulling the conversation back on track.“I remember Sokka mentioning he felt left out a few times, between Aang, Toph and I.” She winced. She hadn’t really taken him seriously then, and now he was so distant she appreciated again how close they had been, the first time. Being the only two kids left in the village for the years after Dad left, and then flying across the world together. Suki had smoothed out his rough edges, but learning to depend on Katara had started it. “It got better after he trained with Master Piandao.”

“Master Piandao? Yeah, that’s right…” Zuko stared out to the distance, eyes narrowed in thought, before he turned back to her. “I have an idea.”

Katara listened to him speak for a couple minutes, then stared. “You have a manipulative streak, you know that?”

“I learned it from Uncle. You have no idea the lengths that man would go to convince me give the crew shore leave so he could go shopping and play Pai Sho.” He sighed. “You miss your brother. I miss my friend, and if it takes stoking his pride to get him back, I’ll do it.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Katara appealed to her father, and after much pleading she and Zuko were allowed one last trip in the canoe that season to search-out Aang. The temperature had been below freezing for a week, and soon the ice-fields would be too dangerous to cross until the spring melt.

Sokka, of course, was pressed into chaperoning, which meant he would miss out on one of the last elephant-elk hunts of the season. He complained bitterly and was more annoyed and disgusted with bending than ever.

Perfect.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“What do you mean you don’t know how to sword fight?” Zuko demanded to the other boy as they all paddled the canoe out to the ice floes.

Katara winced. Zuko’s voice was currently breaking, and went through several different octaves. Way to overdo it. Zuko admitted he wasn’t a very good actor or liar, but… but this would be different. This was just a _tiny_ stretch of the truth.

“What do you mean, what do I mean?” Sokka shot back, eyes steady on the treacherous water ahead as he paddled. “All I need is my boomerang and my whalebone club. It’s all a _real_ man should need,” he added with a sneer to Zuko’s bare hands. Zuko usually kept his dao swords back in his tent.

“But…but you are a sword master!”

 _Stop overdoing it, flame-brain._ “Zuko,” Katara broke in. “Sokka isn’t a sword master, yet.”

This got her brother’s attention. He lifted the paddle from the water and glanced at her. “ _Yet?_ What does that mean?”

“He has the skills,” Zuko insisted to her. “If he was that good back then, imagine how amazing he could be if he started earlier?”

“Stop talking to me like I’m not there!” Sokka snapped, irritated in that way he so easily got nowadays when Katara and Zuko talked of future he had no knowledge of.

Katara turned to him. “Sokka, I saw you defeat the actual prince of the Fire Nation, one-on-one.”

“I…” Sokka stopped. Blinked. “What? You did?”

Katara nodded vigorously. “Yes, you did, and he was a real jerk, too.”

Zuko scowled at her, but smoothed his expression out when Sokka turned to him for confirmation. “Yeah, he sort of was.”

“You made him look like a _complete idiot,_ ” Katara added, with relish.

“Yes,” Zuko agreed flatly. “Right in front of his men and everything.” If this was said through slightly clenched teeth, Sokka didn’t notice.

“But I…” Sokka looked at his hands. “What’s the point of using a sword or any of that. Considering what you two can do…”

Katara’s heart clenched. Luckily,Zuko spoke up before she could. “Master Piandao is a legendary swordsman. He defeated one hundred benders in combat. And he took _you_ as his student.”

“… Really?”

“Sokka, look. Bending is a tool. That’s it.” He glanced at Katara, who nodded agreement. “The art of the sword is just as dangerous and takes just as much discipline to master as bending an element, and I’m telling you right now you were better than me. I had studied for _years_.”

“But you’re the Avatar.”

“I wasn’t back then. All I had was firebending.”

“And you’re smart, Sokka,” Katara added. The open longing on her brother’s face was like a knife to her heart. How had she not noticed how left out, how useless he must have felt? Then he had to stand by and watch as everyone told Katara that she was the hope of the world, while he had busted his butt every day to prove himself in the Tribe’s eyes while helping to feed and support his family. No wonder he had been grumpy with her. “We invaded the Fire Nation using your ideas, and your tactics. Right to the heart of the capitol.”

“That’s right,” Zuko added. “No one had done that much damage to the Fire Nation in centuries. No one.”

“I remember,” Katara laughed, “You brought your plans to defeat the Fire Nation to the Earth King, and before we all know it, he was eating right out of your hand.” And she was never, ever going to tell him that Kuei was a complete idiot-child who had an unhealthy attachment to a bear.

Sokka stared back and forth between them. “Even if this is true, where am I going to learn how to use swords?”

“Well…” Give credit to Zuko, he paused for the exact amount of time needed to come off as authentically hesitant. “I could show you what I know of the basics.”

“And I’m happy to throw snowballs at you and let you cut them out of the air. Snowmen, too.” Standing to her knees, Katara bent the water around them to turn the canoe around. “Zuko, you should start teaching him today. The sooner, better.”

“But, what about finding Aang…?” Zuko protested, again, just as they’d practiced. “This might be the last day we can look for him before winter closes in!”

“Aang can wait a little longer,” she said cheerfully as the canoe came about. “My brother comes first.”

For a second she was certain she had overdid it, but Sokka eyed her, scratching his chin. (He was trying to grow out a beard and was failing miserably. He had like one chin hair.) Then Sokka shrugged. “Sure, if that’s what you want.”

No one was fooled. Sokka was secretly pleased. And to show him he was valued, Zuko and Katara were willing to put off their search.

Aang would have understood.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the worst of snarly-Sokka. He'll be more of a team player from here on out. :)


	6. The Tale of Avatar Katara: Part III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I don't know why, but when I was plotting this I thought Toph was 13 when she joined the GAang. (I really thought Aang was the youngest at 12.) So... oops? I decided to roll with it to give the three Avatars more time for mayhem before the comet comes.
> 
>  
> 
> As a heads up, I'm getting into the busy season of my work. This probably won't get until update until the first of the year.

 

Thanks to Katara’s burgeoning earthbending skills, family dwellings with fortified earthen walls were the new rage in the village. Katara used her waterbending to clear away the feet of ice, snow, and permafrost, then called up layers of packed earth from below. Earthen walls and floors made for more much better insulation than ice and animal-hide.

She built a smaller home for Zuko, near her own family’s dwelling, then strung up a line of Sokka’s best rope so that they could walk back and forth even in a raging blizzard.

During the long, dark winter months, Katara and Sokka spent most their time in his Zuko’s dwelling. It was almost luxuriously warm (by Water Tribe standards) thanks to the ever-crackling fire. Zuko, too, figured out a way to airbend the smoke so it always escaped out the smoke-hole at the top.

While Katara’s earthbending was getting better (though she doubted Toph would think it was up to snuff), she had still gotten nowhere with fire or air. She was determined to pick up firebending by the time the dark winter ended.

Apparently, mastering fire meant a _lot_ of sitting and breathing. She remembered Aang complaining about the same thing when studying with Jeong-Jeong. Now, after a long afternoon of doing nothing but breathing into her stomach and trying to ‘feel the fire’ she felt a little more sympathy.

Zuko, too, was still struggling with water. He sat across Katara, rolling a thin sheen of water around and around in a bowl. Katara didn’t ask what he was trying to do—better he practice in here. Today, it was cold enough outside to instantly freeze any liquid in seconds.

Sokka was cleaning his sword, which was a gift from Bato’s grandfather. The old man had a broadsword from his younger warrior days, though it had gone rusty with age. The village as a whole was pleased Sokka was learning swordplay, it had been given to him on his birthday. He had work to do to recondition the weapon, but he was visibly happy.

Katara was half-smiling in thought at her brother, when Zuko suddenly made a noise halfway between a dying arctic hen and that time Sokka got a fishhook stuck in a sensitive place.

“What was _that_?” Sokka asked with a laugh.

“Look!” Zuko lifted his hand out of the bowl. A thin coating of ice had frozen over his fingers. With a grin, he flicked his hand and the water flowed back into the bowl.

“You did it!” Katara exclaimed, and she _knew_ she was a bad person at heart because while her first emotion was shock and joy for her friend… her second was seething jealousy.

Zuko could waterbend, and Katara had been able to make a fire so much as flicker.

Zuko laughed aloud and repeated the motion. She had never seen him look so openly delighted before.

“It just occurred to me—Every movement of the water has an equal reaction. It’s like… rocking back and forth.”

It took a second for her to translate Zuko-speak. “… You mean like, push and pull?” Her eyebrows raised. “Like I’ve been telling you for _months_?”

Zuko snapped mouth shut and looked abashed. “… Maybe?”

She rolled her eyes but came over to watch as he repeated the process, coating his hand again before he pushed the waterback into the bowl.

“Good work,” she said only a little grudgingly. “Next, try to make little waves. Master Pakku said the same movement of the water is found in the rushing of the blood.” She pressed a hand over his chest— and found his heart beating fast thanks to his excitement over connecting to his element.

The lucky little lizard-weasel.

“Feel that?” she asked. “This is your inner push and pull. Your heart bends the blood in your body.”

Sokka made an annoyed sound in his throat, probably for how close they were. Well, he could go freeze his head. This was a legitimate waterbending lesson.

Zuko rolled his eyes at Sokka, but then his attention turned back to her. He smiled, crookedly. “Aang once said fire was like a little heart beat.”

Her hand dropped. “Well, I wouldn’t know.”

Some of his happiness dimmed and she wanted to kick herself for souring the moment.

“You’ll get it, Katara," Zuko said. "If it was possible, I would have you sit out in the sun—” He trailed off, his skin going several shade paler. “Monkey feathers!”

“What?” Katara and Sokka demanded.

Zuko’s eyes were wide. “The sun. The _sun_! Koh take it. That’s the biggest source of firebending there is. Firebenders rise with it and—”

“There won’t be sun for another three weeks, at least,” she realized in dawning anger. “You mean, I’ve been beating my head against the wall, trying to figure out _why_ I couldn’t firebend, and it was the sun all along! You jerk!”

His sheepish look was all the answer she needed.

With graceful motion, she bent the water in Zuko’s bowl to her own hand, condensed it into snow and flung it at his stupid face.

Sokka laughed.

… Until Zuko bent slush and threw it in _his_ face.

With an overblown yell of outrage, Sokka drew his sword.

Soon, the snowball fight was taken outside, with Sokka cutting snowballs out of the air—when Katara and Zuko weren’t busy lobbing them at each other. Zuko picked up the knack pretty fast: Turned out the best way to teach a firebending Avatar the art of water was through combat.

 

* * *

 

The sun rose on the South Pole three weeks later. Zuko grabbed a handful of logs and took Katara to the outer edges of the village.

“Today,” he said importantly, “you’re going to firebend.”

Sokka, of course, invited himself along. “Oh joy, I’ve always wanted a firebender in the family.”

Katara ignored her brother. “How am I going to do that, now?”

“Same way we do it in the Fire Nation: Trial by fire.”

That was ominous and… yet incredibly Fire Nation.

With the sun high in the sky (or at least as high as it went this time of the year, which was several hand-lengths above the horizon), Zuko lit a fire out of some half-soaked logs—that was a useful trick) and let the flames roar high.

“Sooo, what’s on the menu?” Sokka asked, nonchalantly, brushing snow off a boulder before he took a seat. Katara saw, though, how he kept his sword close. “Fire walking? Fire Eating contest? Fire sword duel? That’s a thing, right?”

“No, that is _not_ a thing,” Zuko said firmly. “All she’s doing today is holding fire.”

The reaction from both was instant.

“ _All_ I’ll do is hold _fire_?”

“What? With her hands? Are you insane?”

Zuko turned to Katara. “You’re a firebender. You’ll be fine.”

“Um, can’t I start with a burning leaf or something…?”

“Do you see any leaves around here?” He shook his head. “This is how people in the Fire Nation are tested for bending ability. You didn’t see all the scarred palms?”

She had, but they had been in the Fire Nation.The local populous was sort of insane.

Before she could form a reply, Zuko swept his hand through the campfire and offered a handful of live flames to her. Just like that.

She stepped back.

He stepped forward. “If I can bend water, you can bend fire. You have it in you, Katara. Take it. It’s easy.”

“For you, maybe.”

His forehead crinkled. “What are you waiting for? If you get burned, you can just heal yourself.”

“But it will still hurt!”

“Hey, jerk!” Sokka stood. “Maybe you should back off. She’s not ready.”

With a gesture, Zuko locked ice around Sokka’s boots.

“Hey!” Katara yelled. “Don’t freeze my brother!”

“Just hold the stupid fire!” But Zuko was forced to duck, dropping his fire and cycling a small gust of air to knock Sokka’s boomerang off course. Sokka had thrown it at him when his back was turned. “Seriously?” Zuko snapped at Sokka. “You didn’t think I would remember that trick?”

“What are you even talking about?” Sokka demanded. He had already wrenched one boot free—Zuko had made the ice too thin—and was working on the other.

Rolling his eyes, Zuko rekindled the fire. “Hurry up, before your brother embarrasses himself trying to kick my ass.”

“But—”

The firelight played over his face, lighting one side and darkening the other. For a moment, he looked like the teen who had run his ship into their village. “I played nice with Aang, and where did that get us?”

That was a low blow. “It’s not the same.”

“Then prove me wrong. Take the fire. It’s _yours_.”

Then he thrust the live fire in between her cupped hands.

She bobbled for a second, feeling the warmth across her bare palms and was certain it was going to burn. But then she breathed out and the fire expanded, then contracted as she breathed in… and stayed, warm and lovely, warming her blood from her hands all the way to her elbows. She could feel it flickering, seeking more fuel.

“Give it more breath,” Zuko said, stepping back. He did—something. The fire flickered again and she realized he had kept half control of it the entire time until he was sure she could handle it.

If she weren’t so busy, she would have been impressed.

Tentatively, she breathed out, and the fire grew, feeding off her, returning warmth back into her skin. “This is amazing. Sokka, look!” She held up her hands, the fire cupped within. “I’m doing it!”

“Yay,” Sokka said flatly, finally pulling his boot free.

“Congratulations,” Zuko intoned with a deep bow to her.”Firebender.”

 

* * *

 

Dawn a few weeks later had the sun shining on a sight unseen in the world: two benders sparring with all four of the elements between them.

Katara was, of course, a waterbending master. Zuko could probably qualify in fire. Both were self taught in earth and air respectively, but while their forms weren’t pretty they were serviceable. Katara was learning her breath control and how to reign in the temperature of flame. Zuko was learning his first ten forms of water.

It still made for an impressive sight. The elements mixed, clashed, danced as the former enemies, now close friends, pit themselves against one another.

Eventually, breathing hard, Katara had to call for a stop. She had worked up quite a sweat, and that was a bad idea in polar climates—sweat could freeze, plunging a body into rapid coolness too fast.

“When are you going to teach me the breath of fire?” she asked, walking back to the campfire they’d both set up and stretching out her muscles. Letting them cool in the frozen air was also a very bad idea.

“I’ll teach you to breathe fire when you have control over the intensity of your flame.” He held up his bare arm, where he’d earned another heat rash from blocking a gout of fire that was a bit too hot for sparring.

Well, that’s what he got for sparring _shirtless_ in the South Pole. Honestly.

She bent water into a glove and walked over to heal him. He watched the process with narrowed eyes.

“When are you going to teach me to do that?”

“What, heal?” She smiled up at him. “Nunca’s next baby is due in a few months, you know. Delivering babies is great practice for a healer.”

He went several shades whiter. “Never mind.”

She was going to tease him a little more, but the sight of some of the men riding out on a hunt caught her eye. They had hooked their dogs to sleds and were riding out on the hunt. Sokka wasn’t with them, which meant he’d be by for sword practice later on.

The men riding out meant another thing: Winter was coming to an end.

Zuko had followed her gaze, frowning. “What is it?”

The healing done, she let the water fall back to the snow, which had taken on a slushy quality. Yup, it was getting warmer. “Spring breakup is coming soon. “

“Breakup?”

“The thaw. Soon, we’ll be able to take the canoe in the ice fields again.” Katara bit her lip. “What are we going to do if we don’t find him again? I’ve been searching for Aang for two years—and don’t tell me it took you longer the first time.

Zuko shut his mouth. “Well, it did.”

“Things were different, then. We’re different.” She looked down and finally voiced a concern that had been bugging her on and off all winter. “When you went into the Avatar state, you said you saw Toph, too?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Did you ever wonder if she… came back, too? If she’s like us?”

“For the Earth Kingdom’s sake, I hope she isn’t.” It was a half-hearted attempt at a joke. He looked troubled. “I’ve been thinking about her, too. I came _back_ to the day of my twelfth birthday. You were around the same age, right?”

She nodded. “Any idea when Toph’s birthday is?”

“Eighth day of the forth month, year of the Rooster.”

Katara stared at him, then put her hands on her hips. “Okay, how could you possibly know that?” Sure, he had obsessively stalked Aang, but that had mostly been before Toph had showed up.

“Remember when Aang disappeared and we paired up to look for him? Well she thought it would be a great idea to tell me her life story.” He rolled his eyes.

That sounded a lot like Toph. “This year is the year of the Rooster. Her birthday is two months away.”

They exchanged a long look, and Katara saw her own determination mirrored in his expression.

“I’ll talk to my dad,” she said. “And if he doesn’t agree to let us go… well.” She straightened and let a smile play on her lips. “I am a master waterbender, and you’re getting the basics down. One way or another, we can get to the Earth Kingdom.”

Zuko grinned, but it faded as he turned to gaze out to sea. “Toph was in the Earth Kingdom, stopping the airships when… when whatever sent us back, happened.” Then, quieter. “She might be able to tell us what happened to Aang.”

Her heart caught in the strange way it always did when she thought back to that those days, now years past for her and Zuko. And a year and a half in the future for everyone else. Aang had been so determined to stop the Fire Lord without taking his life. He had argued with the group about it, but Katara had been so certain that no matter what happened, Aang would find the solution.

Maybe he did. Maybe this was the solution. Aang had run away from being the Avatar before. Maybe… Was it possible to transfer avatar powers to others?

 _No._ She refused to think like that. No matter what else happened, she would have faith in Aang.

“Avatar Toph,” Zuko murmured, quiet enough that Katara wasn’t certain he was talking to her or not. “That’s a scary thought.”

Grateful he had pulled the conversation back on track, she slid sly glance at Zuko. “You know, if Toph is like us she’s going to pick up fire right away. That’s next in line, after earth.”

“Are you kidding? She’ll probably figure out a way to _see_ using fire,” Zuko said, then smirked. “Besides, I’ll have it easy.”

“Why? What do you mean?”

“You get to teach Toph how to swim.”

Sokka strode up before Katara could reply, most likely noticing that they were taking a break from throwing fire at one another.“Who’s Toph?” he asked, having caught the last few words

Katara and Zuko exchanged a look and in unison said, “The greatest earthbender in the world!”

 

* * *

 

“A _third_ Avatar?” Hakoda repeated, staring at his daughter in disbelief.

“Yes. Zuko saw me and her in the spirit realm. That’s how he knew to come here, to find me.”

Her father looked like he was getting a headache. “Are there going to be more after this?”

Katara hesitated. “I don’t think so. Zuko, Toph, and I were Aang’s teachers. We were close to him… Sokka too, though I don’t know why he didn’t… didn’t come back.”

What if Sokka had died, back then, trying to stop the airships? Grief clutched at her heart, even though she had her brother here with her. Toph would be able to tell her… assuming did indeed come back.

She forged on before she could let grief overwhelm her. “Zuko and I gained Avatar powers when we turned twelve. Toph’s twelfth birthday is next month. She’ll be in the Earth Kingdom in a city called Gaoling.”

“I know that place.” Hakoda frowned. “We don’t have the forces to sail there and take over the town.”

“No, Zuko and I will sneak in and get her—”

“Alone? Absolutely not.”

“We’ve done worse before.”

“Then I was a fool to let you do it. I won’t be once again.”

“What is your problem?” Katara demanded. “You left Sokka and I, before, and sailed off to war. You said you were proud of us when we traveled with Aang. Now all you want to do is keep me here!”

Hakoda rocked back, visibly stung. She hated the fact that she had hurt him, but she didn’t apologize.

“Before,” he said, “We had no hope. Our people are dying, Katara. We only have this village left in the entire South Pole. Now… We have you.”

“Aang _is_ our hope, and Toph… Dad, we can’t let the Fire Nation get to her.” She stood. “This isn’t me asking. I’m _telling_ you that Zuko and I are going, one way or another. Toph is our friend.”

She saw the muscles in his jaw tighten. He was her father and the Chief. He expected to be obeyed, but she was a master waterbender, and an Avatar. She had her own power.

Then, unexpectedly, his shoulders slumped. “You look so much like your mother, sometimes. Especially when you’re putting me in my place.”

Her own hard stance softened. She reached up to touch her necklace. “I think about her all the time.”

“She would have been so proud of the woman you are becoming. The hope and the pride of the tribe.” He sighed. “Yes, Katara, you may do this. We will take a ship to the nearest port to Gaoling—but Sokka will accompany you two. Go and retrieve this third Avatar for the tribe.”

She hugged him.

 

* * *

 

 

Katara had forgotten what it was like to see the vast green and brown lands of the Earth Kingdom. She stood at the bow of her father’s ship, eyes shielded against the sun and just stared out with hungry eyes over the forests—at all the vast landscape without a hint of snow.

Beside her, Sokka was openly gaping. This was the first time he remembered seeing this.

Zuko just looked on, his arms crossed. Katara bumped him on the shoulder. They exchanged a look and grinned.

 _Five days_ , she mouthed.

Five days until Toph’s twelfth birthday. Five days until they finally got some answers.

 

* * *

 

 

Once the ship pulled into port, the Water Tribe men piled out to begin the business of trading. While the tribe could and did survive on its own, there were spices and other luxuries that could only be purchased from the Earth Kingdom. As Sokka had once opined, you could live without sage-salt spice to season jerky, but… _why_?

Hakoda accompanied Katara, Sokka, and Zuko to the local stables where he rented four ostrich-horses. Three for them, and one to carry supplies. And later on, to carry Toph.

The sum of money passed between Hakoda and the stableman made Katara wince. Worse was that Hakoda planned to recoup a large portion by selling the ostrich-horses when they returned with Toph.

At last, they were ready to go. Zuko traded grips, Water Tribe style, with Katara’s father. Then he pulled himself astride the ostrich-horse like an old hand. She hoped riding was as easy as he made it look.

Hakoda turned to her. “Katara, be safe, and make smart choices. Remember, you are the future of the tribe… I love you.”

“I will, Dad.”

She hugged him, long and hard. She knew she hadn’t been the easiest child the last couple years, and that it must have been very hard for him to let go of her now. He trusted her.

And she was going to betray that trust. Her father and brother didn’t know it, but the Avatars were _not_ coming back to the South Pole… not until the war was done.

Hakoda released her and turned to his son. “Sokka, I’m charging you with keeping the Avatars safe. You’re Chief of this expedition.”

He straightened, practically glowing with pride. Ooooh, he was going to be insufferable for awhile. Too bad they hadn’t had time to stop at Kyoshi Island so Suki could be beat some sense into him.

Toph would have to do the honors, instead.

 

* * *

 

 

Climbing astride the ostrich-horse was NOT as easy as Zuko made it look. Katara’s beast did not want to respond to any of her commands. It just wanted to follow Zuko’s hen, who was leading.

Worse, after a few hours, they all had to stop to rest their legs. Riding worked her stomach and leg muscles in ways she had never used before. Her inner thighs burned.

Luckily, she had waterbending healing to soothe away the pain.

“I miss Appa,” she sighed, sinking down into a shallow stream.

As soon Sokka climbed down off his ostrich-horse, he laid flat on the ground. “Don’t tell Appa is another Avatar,” he groaned.

“No, he’s an airbender. A ten-ton furry one,” Zuko said.

Sokka lifted his head, glared at the other teen, then dropped it again without asking. He clearly didn’t even want to know.

Healing done, Katara floated a globe of water upward. She arched an eyebrow at Zuko who was busy massaging his own legs. “Want me to take care of it, or do you want to try to learn waterhealing?”

Zuko winced and looked down at his lap, vaguely embarrassed. “I’ll… figure it out myself.”

Considering how Sokka was walking bow-legged it was easy to see why he didn’t want her to help. _Boys_.

“Get in the water, then,” she said. “I’ll talk you through it.”

It took Zuko the better part of an hour before he had to admit defeat, and submit to her healing.

“Guess I don’t have the knack,” he muttered, looking everywhere but at Katara.

It took her a few seconds to work the very minor healing. Muscle stiffness was nothing to, say, a lightning burn. “Healing might be a womanly art. I didn’t stay around the Northern Water Tribe long enough to find out.” Then she turned and called, “Sokka, get in the water. You’re next!”

There was a pause then a groan as Sokka more or less flopped into the stream. “Work your magic, woman.”

She splashed him.

 

* * *

 

 

With frequent stops and getting lost once (Thanks, Sokka’s maps) they made it to the city of Gaoling the morning of Toph’s birthday.

“That’s it. That’s the estate.” She nodded to the grand white pillars that showed the flying boar of the Bei Fong family crest.

Zuko squinted. “Huh. Guess it hasn’t happened for Toph yet.”

“How do you know?” Sokka asked.

Katara answered for him. “The roof is still on the house.”

“Great,” Sokka said. “Let’s get this over with.” He moved his ostrich-horse forward.

Katara didn’t think about it, with two strong motions, she turned the stone of the road around so Sokka’s ostrich horse faced back to them.

“What?” Sokka complained.

She put her hands on her hips. “Sokka, they aren’t going to just let us in there.”

“She’s right,” Zuko said. “We all look like a bunch of dirty peasants. This is a fine estate. They won’t let us past the gate door.”

“Yeah, what do you know of fine estates, Fire Nation?” Sokka asked.

Zuko rolled his eyes.

Katara decided to jump in before they started sniping at one another. Or worse, Zuko admitting he was a prince before Toph got the chance to see Sokka’s meltdown. “I have an idea. Well,” she amended, “an idea that got us in the _first_ time.”

“What?” Sokka squawked. “ _I’m_ the leader! Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”

In answer, Katara held up the money bag Hakoda had parted with, just in case they needed to buy supplies on the road. “It involves shopping…”

Sokka brightened visibly.

 

* * *

 

 

The small sack of Water Tribe coin bought Katara an hour with the local salon. Her hair was washed, dried, and done up in intricate, professional loops. Finally, a light coat of makeup was artfully applied to her face.

Meanwhile, the boys had gone shopping. She met them in the town square and enjoyed the double-take that Zuko gave to her, and the instant protective glare Sokka sent his way. 

Then Katara did a double-take of her own. Zuko had somehow found a russet red over-tunic with gold trimming and dark pants. It was strange—but fitting—to see him in Fire Nation colors again. And Sokka…

“I can’t believe you bought that messenger bag again.”

“It’s really useful!” he said, holding it up proudly. “Now I have a place to store all my maps and my boomerang… hey, what do you mean, _again_?”

She shook her head. Some things, she supposed, were just meant to be.

heir ostrich horses has gone through a brush down of their own, and now tack and feathers gleamed.

Katara grinned. “ _Now_ we look good enough to impress the snooty Bei Fongs.”

“Yup,” Sokka said taking them all in as a whole, “Add in the Earth Kingdom girl and that airbender you two are always looking for in icebergs, and we’ll have the complete set.”

“That’s the idea,” Zuko said blandly.

Sokka opened his mouth, then closed it with an unusually thoughtful expression. “Huh. Okay.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Okay?”

“Well, we are going to stop the war, aren’t we? It would be a good idea to send a message about all nations together in peace and harmony.” He shrugged and self consciously scratched under his wolf tail.

Aw, she loved her big brother sometimes.

“Sokka,” Katara said, “You really are smarter than you look.” Then she kicked spurred her ostrich horse forward, up to the gates of the great Bei Fong estate.

Predictably, two beefy guards stepped in front of them before she could cross through the archway. “Stop! State your business, missy.”

Missy? She had not just gone through hours of having her hair pulled into weird little twists to be called _missy_. Katara felt her shoulders straighten and she did her best to look down her nose at the men. “I am here to see Lao Bei Fong.”

“Yeah, sure. What makes you think you’re so important?”

“Because I’m the Avatar,” she said.

The guard on the right snorted. “Nice try. Everyone knows the Avatar is an Earth Kingdom boy.”

“Yeah,” added the other one. “He saved a whole village to the south last year.”

“Whoops,” Zuko muttered under his breath. Sokka smacked his own forehead.

They probably should have gone with Zuko being their Avatar spokesperson. Oh well. Katara was in too deep to back down now. She summoned her most regal baring—something Azula would pull, though she’d never, _ever_ admit it to Zuko— and said, “Do I look like a boy? And I’m from the Water Tribe, thank you very much.”

“And who are these two, then?” Left guard asked.

“My servants.”

Servants probably weren’t supposed to glare at their master like that, but oh well.

Right guard laughed aloud. “Avatars are supposed to bend all the elements, right? Go on, then.” He looked aside at his friend. “This’ll be good…”

This was the moment she had been waiting for. Katara was still a novice at firebending, but it was flashy. She kindled a flame in one hand, and froze a dagger of water from her pouch in the other. Then, a single short gesture brought up a spear of earth.

The guards visibly swallowed. Then bowed. “My apologies, Avatar… uh…”

The feeling of power was heady. She felt like giggling, but managed to keep a straight face. “Katara. I am Avatar Katara.”

 

* * *

 

 

Dinner at the Bei Fong estate was just as excellent as last time. As “avatar” she sat in the place of honor at Lao Bei Fong’s right. His pretty, yet prim wife sat on his other side. As ’servants’, Zuko and Sokka sat further down the table.

Zuko’s gaze was drawn away toward a maid who was leading a tiny girl dressed in white into the room. Katara caught her breath.

“May I present, my daughter, Toph,” Lao said. It was a surprise he had bothered to introduce her, since she was mostly kept from the public eye, but he had the first time around, too.

Toph quietly took her place at the table and stared blankly between them. There was no recognition at all on her face.

More house staff brought additional plates heaped with food. Between bites, Sokka kept nudging Katara foot under the table and shooting her confused looks. He clearly thought they were nuts. This tiny blind girl couldn’t be the earthbender he had heard so much about.

Zuko just looked at Toph like she were a puzzle. His frown deepened as Lao fussily ordered a maid to cut Toph’s food into bite-sized pieces for her. Apparently, she was not to be trusted with a knife.

“We are honored to host the Avatar and her retinue,” Lao said. “May I ask, what are your plans for defeating the Fire Nation?”

“I plan to defeat the Fire Lord as soon as I can—definitely before the comet arrives next summer,” she said. “However, I’ve mostly been teaching myself earthbending, and I think I would benefit by learning from a master.”

“You are in luck,” Poppy Bei Fong said. “Gaoling has many notable earthbending schools. I would be happy to refer to you our daughter’s own tutor.”

“Your daughter is an earthbender, then?” Zuko asked pointedly.

Lao flicked his fingers. “In the basics only, of course.”

Toph made no visible reaction. Katara had honestly forgotten how meek she had been under her parent’s care.

The small talk went on for a few rounds, and Katara began to wonder if Lao would allow them to sleep in one of their many guest rooms like he had last time.

Then, with no warning at all, it happened.

It started with a breeze, which quickly morphed into a howl of wind. The dinner table flipped end over end, spilling food and silverware.

“Back up!” Katara said. “We can handle this!” And she neatly blocked fire which flared up from the nearby candles. In the next moment, the fire was ripped from her control to circle around Toph in a twisting ribbon.

“Toph!” Poppy Bei Fong screamed, clutching at her cheeks. “My baby! What is happening to her?”

Vases tipped over, and water spilled out from them toward Toph as if called. The wind howled so loudly she could hardly hear Lao call for his guards.

As predicted, the roof overhead was torn away as if by a tornado.

“Get them out of here!” Zuko yelled to Sokka, pointing to Toph’s parents. Then he summoned a gust of air that sent the guards on the other end of the room flying back. The door slammed shut behind him.

“Did he just—” Lao began.

“Yeah, yeah, they’re _all_ amazing. Now shoo!” Sokka yelled. He all but shoved Toph’s parents out the other door and threw the lock with a flourish.

Toph lifted in to the air, all four elements circling her in perfect harmony. Her eyes were glowing just like Aang’s used to do. Eerie and powerful.

Then, abruptly, the glow vanished and Toph sank back to the ground, staggering.

“Toph!” Katara ran to her side.

“Oof,” Toph said. “That was a rush—Wait.” She blinked and tilted her head to the side. “Sugar Queen? _Sparky_?” She stomped the ground. “Why am I home?”

Toph was _back_. Katara couldn’t help herself. She swooped down and hugged the girl. “It’s a long story.”

Zuko, though, had no trouble summing it up. “We were all sent back in time. Now we need to get out of here before your parents’ guards break through the door.”

“What? Then what are we waiting for?” With a couple quick, strong gestures, the thick walls parted to either side to show the estate garden’s beyond. She made it look so easy. Katara was jealous, she now knew how much effort it took. “Let’s get outta here!”

Sokka made a choked sound at the raw display of power. Zuko grabbed his arm, and they ran out.

 _Well_ , Katara thought. _This was much easier than the first time_.

 

 

 

 


	7. The Tale of Avatar Toph: Part I

“Let me get this straight.” The tea in Toph’s cup had gone cold as she sat around a campfire and listened to a story of _pure insanity_. And the worst part was, Katara and Zuko seemed to believe it wholeheartedly.

Interestingly, judging by his uneven heartbeat, Sokka had his doubts.

“You two both separately went back in time to when you were twelve years old—I can deal with that. Aang is nowhere to be found _again_ —which is sort of what he does. But now, on top of that, we all have Avatar powers?” Toph’s voice rose at the end. “Have you been hitting the cactus juice?”

“It’s true,” Zuko said quietly. His heartbeat didn’t hitch the slightest. “I don’t know how or why, but Katara and I can bend multiple elements.I’ve gone into the Avatar state, too.”

Katara stood. “Here, I’ll prove it.”

With her earth-sense, Toph felt Katara reach into the earth and bend a simple a stone pillar.

Toph’s jaw dropped. “That was…”

“I know…” Katara said in satisfaction. “I was surprised, too.”

“… Your stance was _horrible_. Who taught you to do that?”

Sokka tipped back his head and brayed laughter to the sky.

Toph couldn’t see it, of course, but she imagined the glare of death Katara was giving her. “I taught myself! It’s not like earthbenders are thick on the ground in the South Pole.”

Toph considered shifting the earth to quicksand under her feet—ya know, to show how a _real_ earthbender does it. None of that wishy-washy stance that felt as slippery as ice. But Zuko’s next words cut her short.

“You’re an Avatar, too, Toph. And the next element after earth is fire.”

For one single crystalline moment of horror, Toph considered that: Actually being able to throw fire around—fire she couldn’t see, and wouldn’t be able to control. Then she firmed her mind against it just like any good earthbender would. “Nope.” She drank her now very cold tea. “That ain’t happening.”

“You won’t have a choice,” he said. “Do you think I meant to start airbending?”

Airbending, huh? That explained why he felt a little more… floaty than usual. Toph hoped to all the spirits that his airbending forms weren’t as bad as Katara’s earthbending.

Speaking of airbending…

“And you guys just left Twinkletoes chilling back in the South Pole?”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Katara said tartly. Oooh. She was still pissed at the earthbending dig. Well if she wanted to truly master Toph’s element, she was going to have to toughen up. “We became Avatars when we turned twelve, and we knew it would happen to you, next. We couldn’t just leave you in the Earth Kingdom alone.”

Toph… didn’t have an immediate answer to that.

“Toph.” She felt Katara shift and come closer, her hands clasped. “What happened to Aang during Sozin’s Comet? Do you know? Zuko and I were fighting Azula in the Fire Nation.”

Toph frowned and turned her head in Sokka’s direction. “Why don’t you ask Snoozles?”

“Who?” Sokka asked. “Wait, you mean me?”

“He doesn’t remember.” Zuko’s voice was grave. “He didn’t… he didn’t come back with us.”

“Think of me as the _other_ Sokka,” Sokka said. “New and improved.”

“Oh.” Which meant that this Sokka didn’t know… well, anything. Was he still with Suki? Mooning over Yue? Could this _other_ Sokka ever be interested in…

 _… No. Down girl._ Toph was many things, but above all she was honest with herself. Yes, she would have liked Sokka to notice her at one point, but she was not about to poach Suki’s boyfriend.

Maybe she was channeling an inner firebender because her first reaction was to turn the heat away from herself.

“Wait. Does that mean Sokka doesn’t remember your torrid love affair?” she asked Zuko.

There was much manly sputtering and waaaay too many denials. Grinning, she twisted the metaphorical knife. “What? _Other_ Sokka doesn’t like dark, scarred, and brooding?”

A beat of awkward silence.

“What scar?” Sokka asked. “Who’s scarred?”

“I don’t, uh, I left the Fire Nation’s when I was twelve, this time around,” Zuko said. “My father never…”

For the second time in a half hour, Toph felt her jaw drop. She raised her hand. “No way! Let me see.”

“What?” Zuko squawked. “Why?”

“You want me to believe in your crazy time-travel story, right?”

“I just earthbent!” Katara said.

“Sure, but I’m going to need more proof than that. Maybe Sugar Queen got bit by a spirit and can now throw earth around. I’ve seen weirder.” She snapped her fingers impatiently in Zuko’s direction. “Give me your face.”

“Can’t I just waterbend for you?” he whined, but obediently crossed around the camp fire and crouched down to her level.

He had done this before. One night in the Western Air Temple, Toph had overheard Haru and Teo talking: Saying that Zuko always looked like he was scowling at them, and the trick was to look at his _other_ side to read his mood. Whatever that meant.

That evening, Toph had marched up to Zuko and asked. Looks weren’t big to her, obviously. All she’d heard was that he was an angry jerk with a ponytail. She hadn’t realized… well. The rest.

Zuko had huffed and thrown some sparks around, but eventually had let her feel. Once she “saw” how bad his father messed up his face, Toph had felt like the total ass-end of a sky bison. But at least it had given her some context for cheering him up during the Ember Island Players fiasco.

Now, Toph put her hands on either side of his face — nearly poking him in the eye—and ignored the fact that Sokka was asking Katara what they were talking about, and Katara shushing him. Sokka really didn’t know. And sure enough, Zuko’s skin was smooth and undisfigured. Two whole ears and everything. Huh. He might even be handsome, now. Toph would have to keep that in mind in three or four years.

Or more. Because she had gone back a year and a half to be twelve again. And apparently an Avatar.

Toph dropped her hands. The whole world did a weird swooping thing as she started to _believe_.

“Toph?” Zuko’s firebendingly warm hand closed over her arm. “You okay?”

“Gonna hurl.” She bent double, breathed deeply for a minute or two, then straightened. Somehow, she managed to keep her chunks down. “So,” she asked, lightly. “Avatars, huh?”

“Looks like it,” Zuko said regretfully.

“Toph.” Katara’s voice was strained as if she’d been holding herself back from asking by force. “What _happened_?”

Taking a deep breath, Toph reached for the bones of the earth, past the thin crust, deep into bedrock, which was infinitely strong and patient. She let its strength become her own.

Then she began to speak.

 

* * *

 

 

Toph hung in Sokka's grip, her bare feet swinging over endless nothing while fire-hot air whipped around her.

His fingers were like iron around her wrist, but she was slipping down…

"I don't think boomerang's coming back, Toph." She heard the strain in his voice. "It looks like this is the end."

Fear had closed her throat. She knew she was crying—could feel wetness on her cheeks, but she was the world's greatest earthbender. If she was going to die, she wouldn't die screaming.

A shudder rolled through Sokka's grip, and Toph's earth-sense picked up something _large_ and metallic below her. With a wordless cry, Sokka let go.

Toph landed and heard Sokka land beside her with a sickening crack of bone and a short scream.

The moment her feet touched good, solid metal, the world made sense again. She was standing on another airship, though she had no idea how one had gotten below them. Hadn’t they all gotten air sliced? ”What happened?"

Sokka's yell was triumphant. "Suki!"

Ooph. Forget Sokka. When Toph saw Suki next, she was laying a kiss on her, herself.

Wiping away the tears on her sleeve, Toph shoved her terror away and went to help Sokka back on his feet. From the way he leaned on her and limped to the cockpit, he'd really messed up his leg.

She wouldn't have known from the way he was carrying on, though. As soon as they got to the cockpit and Suki, he turned and started cheering toward the direction of the windows. Suki, too, with little gasps.

"Hello!" Toph said, irritated. "Narrate for someone without working eyes?"

"Aang's fighting the Fire Lord!" Sokka yelled. "Whoo! Go, buddy, go!"

"All right!" A huge grin spread over Toph's face. Transferring Sokka to Suki, she strode forward and stood at the balcony to catch what she could hear. The air was thick with smoke—from all the fire, presumedly— and from here she could only feel the vaguest impressions of a large amount of moving earth. It sounded impressive, though. The smash and crumple of rock were intermingled with fire blasts, howling wind, and crashing water. Aang was using all for elements like a champ.

Sokka excitedly filled in the rest, describing Aang throwing huge boulders the size of Appa at Ozai. Good. It was only proper and right that her student show the Fire Lord what dirt tasted like.

Then Sokka's voice rose in pitch. "He's in the Avatar state! Whoa! Look at him go!"

"That's... really scary," Suki added, softer.

They didn't have to tell her twice. Toph could _feel_ rock smashing all the way from where she stood. "You should try seeing it with your toes," she said, just a little grumpy that those with eyes were getting the real show.

Sokka started cheering anew. "Aang has him on the ropes! Go! Take him out! Airbending slice!"

"What?" Toph demanded. "What's he doing? What's happening?"

Sokka tried to explain with the aid of many sound effects. Toph shoved a hand in his face.

"Shush. Suki, what's _actually_ happening?"

"Aang is chasing Ozai down." In direct contrast to Sokka’s enthusiasm, Suki sounded disturbed. "He's... sort of beating him up with all of the elements."

"That... doesn't sound a lot like Aang," Toph said. Why was she getting a bad feeling about this?

"Because it's not. It's the Avatar!” Sokka yelled, and probably would have been jumping up and down if not for the leg. “Ohhh. Aang has him pinned down now, and... what's he doing? Why is he stopping?”

"What?" Toph demanded. "What do you mean?"

Before anyone could answer, something in the air... changed. It was like feeling the heaviness of an oncoming storm, but with no moisture in the air. A nameless, formless sense of dread took anchor in her chest.

Then the air... split.

She had no way to describe it—only that something which had been whole a moment before was now broken into two. Toph staggered in place. “What was _that_?”

"That's... that's not good,” Suki muttered.

"There are weird red and blue lights coming out of Aang and Ozai. I’ve never seen anything like this before. And the red... it's sort of taking over Aang. There’s almost no more blue left.“ Sokka's voice grew serious. "Suki, can this airship go faster? We need to get down there. I think Aang needs back-up—”

That nameless, formless _something_ in the air broke. Outside, all around them, but also deep, down inside.

Toph felt Sokka's hand close over her arm, and in the next moment...

... She was standing in her parent's house again.

 

* * *

 

 

She felt Katara sink to her knees, her hands covering her face. "I don't understand. Lights came _out_ of Aang? What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Zuko said. "Sort of like when Aang went into the Avatar state and his arrows glowed?”

"No, Sokka and Suki were acting like it was bigger than that. I..." Toph paused. "I think I knew what they meant. It was so... so," she had only a vague idea of what “bright” was, and wasn't sure that was the right description, "so _much_ of it... I couldn't see it, but I could sort of _feel_ it. Like Ozai was red and Aang was the blue.“

"We saw it in the sky, the red bleeding into the blue," Katara said.

"But what _was_ it?" Zuko insisted, frustrated.

Toph shrugged. “Avatar mumbo-jumbo?”

"So, wait…” Sokka said, holding up his hand. He turned to Toph and got to what he clearly thought was the real heart of the matter. “Was other me actually with that Suki girl?"

"She was so out of your league," Toph confirmed.

“She really was, but is this really the important thing right now?” Zuko snapped.

Eh, the boy had a point. Toph heaved a sigh."Aang was always a little flightly, but he always did what was right. If he hasn't come back by now, it's because... he can't." Her voice shook slightly on the last part. She couldn't say the word dead. It just wouldn't come out.

"No,” Katara said sharply. “Aang's _alive_. He was frozen for a hundred years before. We can't count him out now."

“It’s not like we have anything of his to bring to Jun the Bounty Hunter," Zuko said. “We don’t know if he’s in the South Pole for sure, this time. If he’s… around, he might be in the Earth Kingdom. That’s where this whole incident started.”

Her words were met with silence. The Earth Kingdom was huge. Everyone shifted their weight uncomfortably.

Toph blew out the fringe of her bangs. “This sucks. I was ready for the war to end.”

“I was ready for it to end years ago,” Zuko grumbled.

“So, why don’t we just do it?” Toph asked. Instantly, she felt the eyes of the others snap to her.

“What do you mean?” Katara asked.

“Aang was wishy-washy on killing the whole killing-Ozai thing, but you two say you’re Avatars now. I don’t know about you but I’m willing to throw rocks the Fire Lord’s way. Why don’t we go to the Fire Nation, challenge Ozai to an Agni Kai, and end it?”

Again, she was met by dumb silence.

“We could just… stop the war?” Zuko repeated. It sounded like he was testing out the idea to see if it were too hot to hold.

“Sure.” Toph shrugged. “Before Fire Lord Crazy tries to burn the Earth Kingdom down. Before Omashu and Ba Sing Se Falls. Before Ozai does another, hundred evil things. Let’s just take him out.”

“Think of how many wrongs we can set right…” Katara said and turned to Zuko, doing that weird body-language thing people did when they were exchanging looks.

"Maybe," Sokka said in consideration. “We'll bring it up to my dad. The next stop is the South Pole."

Toph laughed and was a little surprised when no one laughed with her. Oh, he hadn't been joking.

And Katara was shifting around nervously as if she had accidentally sat on a pinecone. "Actually, about that..."

"About what?" Sokka asked slowly.

“Yeah, that’s a big no from me. I am _not_ going to the South Pole," Toph said. "My feet can't see a thing on the ice."

"I'm not going back, either," Katara's voice was quiet, but firm.

“Katara!” This family drama would have been a lot more interesting if Sokka didn't sound so personally hurt over it. “You promised dad. He expected you to collect the third Avatar and go home. The men are all waiting for us at the port."

"I'll send them a letter. I'll explain!"

"Sokka, the war is taking place here in the Earth Kingdom," Zuko said. "We have a responsibility to do what we can to stop it."

“Well, I’m not going to the South Pole." Toph crossed her arms. "And you can't make me."

Sokka stared around at all of them."I can't believe this!" 

"Sokka," Katara turned to him. "With these Avatar abilities, we have the ability to stop the war. You're telling me that going home is more important?"

"Well, no, but—"

Zuko cut in. ”Eventually someone's going to remember that the South Pole exists, and will come looking for the Avatar,” Zuko paused, adding, "I did."

"What about your friend, Ong?" Sokka asked.

" _Aang_ ," Katara snapped. "And… and I don't know. I don't want to abandon him, but I’ve searched for years, and the comet is coming. We can’t wait for the last minute."

"Not like last time," Toph said. "We were sort of in a time crunch, and that didn't help."

"We're _not_ abandoning him," Zuko said firmly. "But if we're Avatars, we have a duty to the world."

 _Avatar-smavatars,_ Toph thought. She wasn't fully on board with having the ability to use all four elements, but even if she did (which again, seemed like a cactus water dream) she didn’t see a need to get fancy. Good ol' earth had always been more than enough to let her kick butt.

She could feel Sokka’s objections getting weaker. Toph was more than happy to drive the final nail in that coffin.

“So what’s it going to be, _Other_ Sokka? You in, or are you going to be a good son and run back home to daddy?”

“Sokka,” Zuko said, “We have a real chance of stopping the war and bringing balance back to the world.”

“We can’t do this without you,” Katara added.

Sokka turned his head to look at all of them, then heaved a very put upon sigh. “Fine,” he said. “But when we see Dad again, you’re taking the blame for this.”

Katara laughed, relieved. “I can do that.”

“And I get to come up with the team name,” Sokka added, quickly, striking while the fire was hot. “I’m thinking… Team Avatar.”

“I like it,” Toph said. “Very original.”

“… I thought of that before, didn’t I?”

Toph grinned.

“Thank you, Sokka,” Katara said, putting her arms around her brother in a hug.

“Yeah, yeah,” he complained, drawing back. Sokka in any form had never been much of a hugger. “But if we’re doing this, we’re a team." He laughed, "So you guys better not be keeping any other huge secrets.”

Dead silence fell over them. The type that tasted exactly like guilt.

Toph sat back. Judging by the way Katara and Zuko’s heartbeats skyrocketed, this was going to be good. “Oh boy. What did you two do?”

 _I hope the answer isn't 'each other'._  

Sokka must have picked it up too. Or maybe Zuko and Katara’s faces showed their guilt. “Don’t tell me there’s another Avatar…”

“No,” Zuko said. Standing, he bowed low, Fire Nation style, to Sokka. “This one is my fault. I asked Katara to keep a secret because I knew… well, no one in your tribe would be happy with me, if they knew.”

Sokka’s voice came out both flat and heavy with dread. “What.”

Wow, Toph could practically feel Zuko’s wince. “The truth is: My father’s name isn’t Iroh. It’s Ozai. I’m the crown prince of the Fire Nation.”

Over the sound of Sokka’s sputtering and freaking out, Toph tipped her head up the sky and laughed and laughed.

 

 

* * *

 

 

It took awhile for everyone to calm down. Toph wished she had that pop-corn stuff they served at the Ember Island theater.

There was an incident where Sokka grabbed up his sword, Zuko refused to fight him, and had to use an air blast to retreat up a tree to avoid Sokka’s pointy rage. Katara got in the middle of it all, and ugly things were said between the siblings.

Weird, Toph didn't remember original Sokka getting so riled up before, even the time Katara said some nasty things about him not loving their mother as much as she did. This _Other_ Sokka had a little more of a temper.

Eventually, however, Zuko dropped out of his tree and pointed out that this reaction was exactly why he didn’t tell the Water Tribe. Sokka's anger deflated, and he eventually put away his sword with a lot of grumbling. They settled back down around the fire for a strained meal.

After the simple meal of rations was eaten, Toph decided enough was enough. “I think it’s time we laid all the ugly out on the table.” Standing, she walked over to Zuko and tilted her head up in the way people did when they looked each other in the eye. "Do you have what it takes to challenge your dad to an Agni Kai?"

She appreciated the fact that he didn't answer right away. He bowed his head, considering. “Not with Firebending alone. I have some airbending and a little waterbending to give me an edge, but I don't know if that's enough."

Which was probably as close to a 'no' as she was going to get. She could respect that. She turned. “Katara?"

"I beat Azula," she said. "I... maybe."

“Maybe isn’t good enough,” Toph said. “Second place is just the first loser.”

"We have to find my Uncle," Zuko said, abruptly. "I haven't been back to the Fire Nation for years—I doubt I'm even in the line of succession anymore, unless Ozai is holding it over Azula to keep her obedient. But Uncle was always popular with the people and the Fire Sages."

"You were pretty hot to take the throne last time,” Toph pointed out.

"I still am," he said in a low growl, "But can someone be Avatar _and_ Fire Lord? I don't know if that's right. The Avatar is supposed to be above that.” He slumped “That's what I was always taught, at least.“

"We've never had three Avatars at the same time, before,” Katara said.

And they were officially talking in circles. Besides, Toph wasn't totally sure how sure she was about this whole ‘being an Avatar’ business.

Sokka let out a long, long put upon sigh and scrubbed his face. "So, then what's the plan?"

He was met with blank silence.

"You do have a plan, right? You came all the way to the Earth Kingdom, and are _abandoning your tribe_ ," he added with a pointed look to Katara. "There has to be some kind of a plan.”

"Don't look at me." Sitting on the log next to Zuko, Toph stretched out her legs and let the fire warm up her bare feet. "A couple hours ago, I was helping with the airship slice. I'm tapped out. Call me when you need some rocks thrown your way.”

Katara hummed under her breath. “We have to face the Fire Lord. But… I don’t think we can do that now. We have to get stronger." She paused, considering. " _I_ need to master fire and... and I should learn air," she said with a thread of pain in her voice. No doubt, she was thinking about Twinkletoes.

They _all_ were thinking about him. A gloomy silence fell around the fire.

“Also,” Toph said, just so someone would say _something_ to break the awful, awful grief that was hanging over them like a cloud. “Katara, your earthbending is a disgrace. We need to correct that before you embarrass yourself in the Fire Nation.”

“Hey!”

Zuko cut in. “And you need to learn fire next, Toph.”

 _Not happening_ , Toph thought. But what she said was, “Whatever.”

Sokka took a piece of parchment from his pack and started to write down a list.“Okay, find Zuko’s uncle slash father, Iroh. Teach Toph Firebending. You guys said Omashu and Ba Sing Se are going to fall to the Fire Nation? Huh. That’s not good. Ba Sing Se is supposed to be the heart of the continent.”

“Ba Sing Se’s safe this time around,” Zuko said dryly.

Toph couldn’t resist literally digging her elbow in Zuko's ribs as she spoke. “Why? You’re not planning on teaming up with your evil sister, and abandoning every moral you thought you had to conquer the one place that gave you shelter in the middle of a war?”

“No,” Zuko said flatly. “Once was enough. I’ve got it out of my system, now.”

“Seriously?” Sokka said. “How evil is this guy? Why did we let him in our group the first time?”

“Well, after he burned my feet—”

“Tyro!” Katara yelped, interrupting them all.

“Who?” Zuko asked.

“Haru’s father!”

“ _Who?_ ”

“The prissy earthbender with the mustache you all kept making fun of?” Toph asked. “He wanted me to teach him metalbending, but could barely kick a rock straight.”

“Oh, right,” Zuko said. “I remember now. What about him, Katara?”

“His father is in a Fire Nation prison for earthbenders. You know, those metal rigs the Fire Nation puts way out to sea? I inspired a rebellion, we all escaped, and they came home.” She looked around them, voice rising in hope. “We should do it again. That way they get out of prison earlier, and the Earth Kingdom has more fighters on their side. It’s perfect!”

“Actually,” Sokka said. “You shouldn’t. _She_ should.” He pointed right at Toph.

“Me? Why?”

“To debut you as an Avatar to the world!" His voice took on an excited clip. "Look, Zuko saved a village, and I don’t think your parents are going to be quiet about Avatar Katara kidnapping their only daughter. You can bet our Tribe is talking Katara and Zuko up at the port, too. No matter how badly my dad tries to you guys a secret. Word is going to get out. So now, the world needs to hear about Avatar Toph, too.”

Avatar Toph. That had a nice ring to it. Weird, but nice.

“He has a point,” Zuko said. “Plus, the earthbenders sort of are your people.” He turned to Katara. “How did you manage to get the prisoners to fight back? Ozai put that warden there for a reason: He’s part of Mai's family and they specialize in breaking people down.”

Ohh. Toph bet there was a story there.

Katara sniffed. “I’m very inspiring.”

“They finally figured out they could bend coal after living on a rig powered by coal for years,” Toph said. “The first Sokka told me.”

“And so you can do the same thing,” Sokka said.

“Naw,” Toph stretched her arms behind her head. She wasn’t too sure about this whole ‘Avatar’ thing, but everyone was right: these _were_ her people. She sort of had an obligation. “Bending soft coal is for babies. I’m going to show them metalbending.” 

 

 


	8. The Tale of Avatar Toph: Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait! This chapter was shorter than I guessed out from the outline, and I kept putting it off knowing that people would be annoyed about the length... and then having no way to add to it without going into the next story 'arc', and then knowing people would be annoyed because of the wait AND the short chapter... Vicious cycle.

The element of earth was both patient and steady. A big part of Toph’s success as a fighter came from waiting until the exact right moment to strike. That had been one of the most difficult lessons she had tried to beat into her flighty, airheaded student.

It was a lesson she had surprising trouble with now.

By the time the soles of Toph’s feet hit the Fire Nation prison rig, she was beyond ready to bust some heads.

The last time, Sugarqueen had smuggled herself to the prison by pretending to be an earthbender. The plan had been just hare-brained enough to work, so why mess with success?Besides, Toph didn’t need to pretend to earthbend, and the fact that she was blind meant the Fire Nation knuckleheads who arrested her didn’t see her as a threat.

Katara, Sokka, And Zuko were waiting for her on the nearest shore—they’d come to her rescue after twenty-four hours in case something went wrong. They’d tried to talk her into twelve hours, but she wanted room to work.

No secret that Toph enjoyed showing off her earthbending skills, and getting herself arrested went flawlessly. But getting to the ocean rig meant being transported via boat, which made her terribly seasick. And when she got seasick, she got cranky.

Change of plans. She could teach the smartest of the prisoners metalbending later. Right now, all she wanted was to get back to sweet, stable earth.

It took approximately ten seconds after her arrival on the prison rig to sense the vast store of coal in the lower decks. Toph stopped in place, flexing her toes against the thick metal plating to be sure. Yup. There it was. She knew her brand of earth-sensitivity was unique, but some of these prisoners had been here for years. Hadn’t they noticed the literal metric ton of bendable material under their feet?

Toph couldn’t help if them if they couldn’t help themselves. More to the point, she wasn’t sure why she should.

That probably made her a bad Avatar, but whatever. According to her history tutors, Avatar Kyoshi hadn’t exactly been the warm and fuzzy type, either.

… If she even believed she was an Avatar. She still wasn’t sure about that.

“Line up!” the warden barked, and started what was probably a very practiced welcome speech. “Earthbenders. My name is Warden Sulu. It is my pleasure to welcome you aboard my modest shipyard. I am your warden. I prefer to think of you not as prisoners, but as honored guests. And I hope you come to think of me as your humble and caring host. You will succeed here, if you treat me with the courtesy that I give you, we will get along famously.”

Sheesh. This guy definitely liked the sound of his own voice. Toph struggled to hold back a yawn, then figured: _Why not?_ So she yawned wide, and loud, making sure to show all her teeth.

That got Sulu’s attention. “Guards! Why isn’t this little girl standing with the rest of the prisoners?”

The guard who had been escorting Toph straightened. “Um, she’s blind, sir.”

“That’s no excuse,” he sniffed, “She is being a very rude guest.”

There was a beat. Toph scowled and stayed put exactly where she was. One of the guards poked her in the back. “Are you deaf, too, girl? Step forward and get in the line.”

Toph didn’t budge an inch. “I like where I’m standing right here. You want me to move? You’re going to have to make me..”

The guard laughed.

He wasn’t laughing so much when she punched a hole straight through the metal plating of the deck, grabbed a double-handful of metal, and yanked it out from under his feet like a rug.

The man fell into the deck below, and now she had a convenient shield against fire blasts.

“Wha—What is this?” The warden exclaimed. “You can’t bend metal. That’s impossible!”

Toph grinned. This part never got old. “Nothing is impossible for the greatest earthbender in the world! This isn’t your prison rig anymore, Sulu. It’s _mine_.” She turned towards the lined up prisoners, who were staring with slack-jawed amazement. “Do you all want off this thing or not?”

No one moved. She could practically feel their stunned stares.

Her smile dropped into a scowl. Seriously? There was practicing neutral jing and then there was being _dead._

Unfortunately, the warden was quick to recover his mental balance. “What are you idiots waiting for?” he yelled at the remaining guards.There were, unfortunately, a lot. “Take her out!”

And then Toph was on the defensive. She threw her metal shield upright and let it take the heat from the fire blasts. Some of the stronger flames curled around the edges, making her take a few steps back. Ooph. That was toasty.

With a double-fisted punch, she sent the shield straight at the firebenders. The smart ones ducked or scrambled out of the way. A few were knocked right over the edge and into the drink.

That gave her a few precious, fire-free seconds. She used it to reach deep, deep down for the store of coal she knew was there. Like metal, coal wasn’t true earth, but it had enough bits of rock, soil, and silica even for these dunderheads to manipulate.

At her gesture, the coal shot up through the shafts and vents. The earthbending prisoners let out a cry as it landed in a hearty pile on the other side of the deck.

“There’s your element!” Toph yelled. “Use it!”

Then, finally, one of the men yelled in a gruff voice she recognized: Tyro. “She’s right, earthbenders! This is our chance!”

Some managed to find their courage and took their stances, and suddenly it was the warden’s firebenders who had to dodge.

Ha. Take that, Katara. No inspirational speeches needed: Just good old dirt.

A heavy thump as a boot struck metal was Toph’s only warning. Warden Sulu was coming straight for her and had jumped up, high. If he was a typical firebender he was blasting at her from the air—where she couldn’t track him.

Toph leapt to the side and felt flame curl the ends of her hair. She considered wrapping herself in it more metal plating, but that would risk destabilizing the deck. She could feel the metal straining from the large amount of coal she’d dumped on it.

Instead, she bent out a chunk of coal from the pile, compacting it into a stone nearly as hard as a diamond, and flung it. The warden avoided it with a skipping leap that made him hard to follow and worked against her natural inclination to stay put. Crap. This guy had experience fighting earthbenders.

And he must have been _really_ angry because his return fireblast missed Toph completely and struck the mound of coal. In seconds, the whole thing was up in flames. Well, she could bend it, burning or not. Toph mentally reached for it.

The whole world flipped on its head.

Toph could not see. Obviously. She had only been a few weeks old when fever had taken her sight forever.

Even her earth-sense was just that: A sense. Vibrations came back to her from the earth, allowing her to build a picture in her mind. Her sense of the world consisted of how dense everything was. Roots were a different sort of density than dirt, for example, and the feedback from people and animals moving upon dirt gave her even more context to work from.

But suddenly, something _else_ … something she had no words for and could barely process, filled her brain. It wasn’t a measure of how dense things were, or how they interacted with the earth.

Her first impression was that it was… flat, but with gradients that had nothing to do with density. It was as if this strange thing touched only upon on the surface of things.

Toph’s feet told her that the warden was stepping forward, punching a fist out in a massive fire blast. This _other_ sense showed something blooming out toward her as she stood there, gaping like an idiot.

It… it was beautiful.

“Look out!” someone yelled, then a wall of coal rose up to back the… the flame?

Was this sight? She didn’t think so. But…

Tyro was the one who saved her. He grabbed her shoulder. “Young lady, are you okay?”

Her earth-sense told her he was a big man, how heavy-footed he was, how the metal warped slightly under his weight. Even a touch of his earthbending skill as he used it to sink into a low, defensive stance.

This new sense showed the heat of him—brighter?—around his face, the top of his head and hands where heat escaped his body.

It wasn’t earth-sense at all. It was… a heat-sense. A _fire-_ sense.

“I’m fine.” Toph knew her grin was manic. The warden didn’t know it, but he was _so_ screwed now.

“I’ve never seen anyone do that with metal,” Tyro replied, awe in his voice.

At that moment, the Warden Sulu broke through the coal wall and came at them both, fire blazing.

Fire she could now “see”.

Toph looked at her hands and willed that heat she saw to bloom over her palms into flame. And it did.

“That’s because I’m not only the world’s greatest earthbender. I’m also an Avatar.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

After the last firebenders surrendered and the coal fire was put out (they had to do it the Earth Kingdom way—tossing the whole mess into the ocean. Toph could call fire and throw it around, but controlling it… that was tricky. She’d have to hit up Sparky for tips.), Toph learned that not only was this a prison for earthbenders, it was an active work camp. Katara never mentioned that the earthbenders had been forced to build ships for the Fire Navy.

Toph had always felt a little bad for what Hakoda’s men had done to the Fire Nation ship, after Ba Sing Se fell. Now that she knew exactly how those ships were made, with the blood, sweat, and labor of her own people… eh. She didn’t feel so bad anymore.

As Avatar, she figured it was her place to set things right. Naturally, her first thought was to sink all the blasted vessels so deep even a waterbender couldn’t find them.

Then she got a better idea: Five of the ships were complete enough to be ready for their first shake-down cruise. So, instead of sinking them, she claimed them for the Earth Kingdom Navy. A Navy she had just formed. So there.

She helped separate the prisoners-turned-crew into their brand new ships, outfitted them with supplies from the prison galley, and left all the loser firebenders on their lone rig. A supply vessel would probably be by in a few days. Probably.

One thing she couldn’t do—even with her newfound fire-sense—was navigate the new Earth Kingdom fleet back to Earth Kingdom shores. So she promoted Tyro to admiral had had him do it.

She supposed the new green flags on what had been Fire Nation ships must have gotten some attention, because she found Zuko, Katara, and Sokka waiting for her on the shore.

“Toph,” Katara said, stunned. “You were gone for only six hours.”

She cracked her knuckles. “Yup. Learned some new things, too.” Then, just to show how awesome she was, she lit flame in the palm of her hands. Her heat-sense washed out, showing the expression of dumbfounded amazement on their faces even better than what she’d see using her feet. “I gotta say, I can get used to this.”

Zuko crossed his arms and shook his head. “I knew it. You’ve figured out a way to see using fire, haven’t you?”

Toph let her grin answer for her.

Tyro came up and bowed respectfully. “Avatar Toph, what do you want us to do with the prisoner?”

“What prisoner?” Sokka asked.

Toph shrugged. “I brought warden Sulu along with me. I thought he might be useful.”

Zuko looked at Tyro. “Bring him the prisoner here.”

A few moments later, Sulu was dragged up from ship’s brig by two of their beefiest earthbenders.

Hand on his dao swords, Zuko approached him. “Do you know who we are?”

Sulu sneered. “Should I?”

“You’ve already met Avatar Toph, this is Avatar Katara, and I am Avatar Zuko.” A pause. “I trust you know that name.”

Sulu’s heartbeat picked up the pace, and by the way heat flooded to his face, Toph guessed he was flushing with anger. He spat at Zuko’s feet. “The missing prince. So, you’ve turned traitor against your nation. I suppose you lead this rabble group?”

Zuko hesitated. “As a matter of fact, I don’t.” Then he stepped aside, gesturing to Sokka. “That would be him.”

Sokka’s heartbeat shot through the roof, but to be fair he didn’t act like it. He strode forward, one hand on his sword.

“That’s right. I’m Sokka, and I am _totally_ the leader of Team Avatar.”

In the interests of keeping up the act, Toph did not face-palm.

“What do you want from me?” Sulu asked. “I’ll never give up Fire Nation intelligence. I am no traitor,” he added with a pointed glare Zuko’s way.

“I wouldn’t trust any information you gave, anyway. Nope.” Toph could hear the sly grin in Sokka’s voice. “We’re going to let you go.”

“Why?”

“Because the war is over. The Fire Nation just doesn’t know it yet. So you’re going to go home, warden, and on the way you’re going to deliver a message back for me.” As amiable as he was a second ago, his voice had chilled to roughly the degree of a South Pole winter. And whoa, there was the Sokka that Toph remembered: The steel hard warrior who only came out in battle. “Fire Lord Ozai can step aside, or we’re going to come to his fancy house and _make_ him.”

Sulu sputtered, but Sokka didn’t give him time to respond. He gestured to Tyro. “Let him go.”

Tyro cut the bonds with a knife, and the warden limped away.

“Ozai will never step aside,” Zuko said quietly.

“Oh, I know,” Sokka replied, “But this’ll put the hair on back of his neck up.”

Katara giggled. “Oh to be a wasp-fly on that wall when the Fire Lord gets that message.”

“Well,” Toph said brightly, cracking her knuckles. “That was fun. What’s next?”

 

 

 


	9. The Tale of The Three Avatars: The Cave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up: This chapter is emotionally all over the place. It's been fun and games, but eventually the butterfly effect of the timeline changes reared up to kick our faves in the teeth.

 

“You know what doesn’t make sense?” Sokka asked.

After leaving the newly minted Earth Navy to create havoc around Earth Kingdom waters along with a letter of explanation to pass onto Hakoda should they run into his fleet, he and the three Avatars mounted their ostrich-horses and continued their journey. Toph requested a nice, rocky place to teach Katara to properly bend earth. Everyone agreed. The sooner the Avatars got started mastering the elements, the better.

But journeying on ostrich-horses got boring, quick. It gave Sokka time to think and air his grievances to the world in general.

“What doesn’t make sense?” Toph repeated. The reins of her ostrich-horse were tied to Zuko’s saddlehorn. She was an experienced rider thanks to her fancy upbringing, but without her feet touching the ground, she couldn’t direct her beast. “How about us separately traveling back in time to the ages of twelve, but with added Avatar powers?”

Katara hummed in thought. “Personally, I’ve always wanted to know what the cabbage merchant’s real name actually was.”

“Really?” Zuko asked, snapping the reins on his beast to get it to pull up level with the others. “ _That_ is the question that keeps you up at night?”

Turning in her saddle, Katara put her hands on her hips. “Well, what’s yours?”

“I always wanted to know how Azula could still lightning bend in the middle of her mental breakdown when lightning requires _perfect_ emotional control.” Zuko shrugged. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Sokka shook his head. Who in the world was Azula? He set that mystery aside for later. “Nope. Here’s the important question: Where are your Avatar companion animals?”

This was met by blank looks.

“In the stories, all Avatars have companion animals,” Sokka said. “It’s a theme.”

The three Avatars looked at one another.

“That’s right,” Zuko said slowly. “Aang had Appa, and Avatar Ruku had his dragon, Fang.”

“Avatar Kuruk had an arctic camel, I think.” Katara added. “What about the last Earth Avatar?” She glanced to Toph.

“A saber toothed moose-lion.”

“That sounds about right,” Katara said. “She was a tough lady.”

Sokka eyed her. From the tone of Katara’s voice, she sounded like she’d met Kyoshi before, which couldn’t possibly be right. Yet another thing he set aside for later. He was building quite the collection. “Exactly! So where are your cool animals? No offense to these ostrich-horses, but we could really use some.”

“Well, the Avatar is a reincarnation of the spirit of the world, and the animal spirit has always been linked with him or her, going all the way back to the first Avatar.” Zuko glanced at Katara who nodded in agreement. “None of us are _that_ person, so… no animal companions.”

Toph sighed. “Too bad. A badger-mole would have made an awesome pet.”

“I wouldn’t say no to a dragon,” Zuko agreed. “Too bad they’re mostly extinct.”

“I’d want something that could go to all the nations, like Appa. You can’t take a badger-mole to the North Pole,” Katara said. “Or a dragon, for very long.” She cast a grin at Zuko. “You remember what the blizzards are like in the north.”

“Ugh. Once was enough, thanks.”

There was a beat. “All right, Zuko,” Sokka sighed. “What did you do?”

“Pardon me?”

“The evil deed! Every time I mention someplace, one of you is always like, “Oh, Zuko burnt that village down. Or, that was the time Zuko struck up a bargain with pirates on that river, or he terrorized some nuns in that abby—”

The other boy had gone red to the tips of his ears. He ducked his head, cast a despairing glance at Katara, and muttered, “I can’t believe you told him about the nuns.”

“Um, I didn’t,” Katara said.

Sokka stared. “That was supposed to be a joke!”

Toph threw back her head and cackled. “Way to go, Sparky. I didn’t even know about the nuns.”

“Trust me, I came off the worst on that one.” He brightened, “Though that was the time I met Jun the bounty hunter. She came in handy.”

Sokka waved that away. “No way, you don’t get to change the subject that easily. Spill it, Fire Nation. What did you do at the North Pole?”

He heaved a sigh. “Same thing I did every time we met: tried and failed to kidnap Aang.”

“Oh, you almost got him… And ended up walking into a blizzard!” Katara crowed. “And don’t forget about the Fire Nation siege on the city. They tried to kill the moon. It was kind of a big deal.”

He scowled. “Hey! That wasn’t my fault.”

“Oh sure, like you had nothing to do with Zhao killing the spirit of the moon?”

He shook his head vigorously. “No, even _I_ knew better than to mess with the great spirits. And I hated Admiral Zhao, too. He blew up my ship right before all that, so I had to stowaway on one of his just to get to the North Pole.”

That pulled Katara and Toph up short. “He blew up your ship?” Katara asked.

“And who’s Zhao?” Toph asked. Sokka was just glad that for once he was not the only one who didn’t know.

Katara answered her. “He’s a Fire Nation admiral… Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing him after the North Pole.”

“That’s because he got dragged under the water.” Zuko said, grim. “I… he tried to assassinate me about a week earlier—took my crew and paid those pirates from the river to blow up my ship while I was aboard.”

“Oh, so _that’s_ why you looked so beat up,” Katara said. “I thought you’d got caught up during all fighting.”

He nodded. “Right. And… you know how I was back then. Aang was out of my reach, so I figured I’d settle the score with Zhao. I followed him out of the temple, and we started to duel. Then—then that giant koi fish spirit came out of nowhere and grabbed at us.” His words came faster as if this had been something horrifying he’d been holding back for a long time. “I rolled away, but it got Zhao. I… I _tried_ to save him, but I was banished. He’d rather die than dirty his honor by taking my hand. So the Spirit of the Ocean dragged him under the water.”

Silence.

Sokka looked between them, both horrified by Zuko’s story, and confused about the details. No one said anything and finally he couldn’t take it any longer. “What do you mean, you were banished?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Zuko said. “I couldn’t come home to the Fire Nation until I returned with the Avatar in chains. That’s why I chased you guys all around the world.”

“But…” Everything, from Zuko’s scowl to his tight body language screamed for Sokka to stop talking, but Sokka _had_ to know. Little bits and pieces from what he and Katara had let slip were starting to form a very ugly picture in his head. “You said you were searching for the Avatar for three years before you found him. You couldn’t have known he’d just be a kid, or only an airbender at the time.”

“Yeah, because I wasn’t ever supposed to come back,” Zuko said and looked away, muttering, “It took me a long time to understand that.”

“What did you do to get banished?”

“Sokka,” Katara said. “Just drop it.”

But Zuko shook his head. “It’s fine. It happened… a long time ago.” He turned in his saddle to face Sokka directly. “I disagreed with one of my father’s plans during a war meeting. Yes, before you say it, it was petty of Ozai. And _yes_ , I should have known he was just looking for an excuse to get rid of me, but he was my father. I didn’t want to accept he never loved me. Even when he…”

“Burned half your face off?” Toph asked when he trailed off.

“Yeah.” Zuko shrugged and touched the left side of his face with a grimace. Sokka guessed that’s where it had happened, the first time around. “Pretty much.”

 _Oh geez,_ Sokka wasn’t sure to to say. “Wow. That’s rough, buddy.”

He thought it was pretty lame, but to his surprise Zuko snorted out a laugh. “It was a long time ago,” he repeated. His hand dropped from his un-melted face. “And this time around, it was _my_ choice to leave. Ozai will never have that power over me again.”

Another silence. Katara spoke carefully. “I knew Aang had washed away the Fire Nation fleet when he merged with the Ocean spirit, but he never told me about what happened to Zhao.”

“I doubted he remembered. He didn’t seem to be in control,” Zuko replied.

“I think he did, at least partially,” Katara said, “He said something to me once about not being in control during the Avatar state.”

“Wait, are you saying we can become a spirit-conduit to angry spirits, too?” Toph never sounded scared, but she did sound vaguely disturbed.

“I don’t know,” Zuko said, “But I don’t want to find out.”

Spirits-shmirits. In Sokka’s opinion, they were all missing the bigger picture. “But do we have to worry about this Zhao guy? Is he going to launch another attack on the North Pole again?”

He’d directed it at Zuko, but Katara was the one who answered. “Zhao followed us up there because he was after the Avatar. If we don’t go north, there’s no reason for him to lay a siege.”

“So let’s stay away from the North Pole,” Toph said. “Problem solved.”

“Fine with me,” Zuko muttered.

“I would like to visit one day, if only to say hi to Master Pakku,” Katara said with an odd little smirk that meant danger.

Sokka didn’t know who this Master Pakku was, but he felt sorry for him.

 

* * *

 

 

Finally, on the fifth day of travel, they came to the base of an impressive mountain-range. Toph dismounted from her ostrich-horse. The moment her feet touched soil, her eyebrows raised. “Huh. There’s a really nice cave system near here. It’s spread out in all directions, sort of like a fungus.”

Katara slanted a wicked grin her way. “You could even say there are a lot of… tunnels?”

Zuko’s scowl darkened. “No.”

Ignoring him, Toph grinned. “Yeah. Sort of… _secretive_ ones, wouldn’t you say, Sugar Queen?”

“ _No_ ,” Zuko said more forcefully.

Sokka looked between them, irritated that they were doing that thing again; having a conversation he couldn’t follow.

Toph’s grin only widened, and then in a surprisingly on-tune voice, sang, “Two lovers, forbidden from one another…”

“A war divides their people…” Katara continued sweetly.

“And a mountain divides them apart…”

“They built a path to be together…”

Both girls paused, holding the moment.

“Um, what’s going on?” Sokka wondered.

Zuko shot him a look of pure resignation just in time for the girls to belt out in unison at the top of their voices:

“SECRET TUNNEL, SECRET TUNNEL THOUGH THE MOUNTAINS!”

Sokka rocked back in his saddle in surprise. Zuko, meanwhile, facepalmed. “This song is going to get stuck in my head...”

“SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET TUNNNEEL!”

 

* * *

 

 

They set up camp near the opening of one of the larger caves. Toph couldn’t be happier. Finally, she’d be able to make some headway pounding decent earthbending into Katara’s head.

First thing the next morning, once the ostrich-horses were fed and watered, and they’d all had their breakfast, Toph stomped up to the other girl. “You and me have an earthbending appointment in the cave, Sweetness.” Then she considered. “Sparky should come, too. He might learn something.”

Zuko had been at this whole Avatar thing for longer than any of them. He had a handle on three out of the four elements, but had yet to show an inkling of Earth. Well, Toph figured if she could teach Aang than she could teach anyone.

“Sounds… ominous,” Zuko said, then proved he was a crazy firebender at heart because he added, “I’m in.”

Katara agreed, too, even though Toph wasn’t actually giving her a choice. She bent earth with a slippery gentleness of a waterbender. That stopped today.

“What am I supposed to do all day?” Sokka complained.

Toph shrugged. “Hunt dinner? These two,” she jerked a thumb at Katara and Zuko, “are going to be hungry by the time I’m through with them.”

 

* * *

 

The cave was perfect for Toph’s purposes: drier than most, and not infested with scorpion-bats. It was mostly limestone, which broke easily, and it had a large amount of stalactites and stalagmites to keep things interesting.

“Shoes off,” Toph commanded her two students. She, of course, had no shoes to remove and walked straight in, turning around to face them once she was in the middle of the open space.

Katara and Zuko did as she asked, though their steps were mincing and tentative as they entered the cave. No doubt the shoes had made them soft.

“Why do we have to earthbend in here?” Katara waved her hand back toward the direction of the camp. “There’s plenty of earth out there. And all around, actually.”

In reply, Toph’s hands shot out and with two strong gestures, snapped the mouth of the cave shut behind them. From the sudden spike in their heart rates, she guessed they had just been plunged into complete and total darkness.

“Any student of mine is going to be the best!” Toph declared. “And in order to be the best at earthbending, you’re going to have to think like an earthbender.”

She would never admit it aloud, but she got the sinking feeling she had screwed up bad with Twinketoes. Maybe if she hadn’t been so soft on his lessons, she would have been able to get him out of the mindset of an Air Nomad.

And maybe then, things could have turned out different.

Toph was not going to make the same mistake twice.

A sudden impression of heat and what she was coming to think of as color washed over her, brighter from the tiny candle-sized flame lit in Zuko’s palm, and darker as the heat dissipated out towards the walls.

Toph promptly broke off a piece of stalagmite and threw it at his stupid head. “No cheating! You either feel rocks coming your way the earthbender way, or not at all!”

Zuko ducked but got the point, snuffing the fire out.

“Why can’t we use blindfolds?” he whined.

She stomped a foot in frustration. “Because Aang always peeked, and you will too!”

“Toph, I don’t think—” Katara started.

“Less gabbing, more bending.” And with that, Toph pulled a nice round limestone boulder from the earth and rolled it her way.

She was kind to her students… in her own way. She rolled the boulder across the ground, so loud that even a person with sight should have been able to see it.

It still knocked Katara in the shin. Katara managed to leap out of the way of the next one, but stubbed one of her delicate toes on a stalagmite.

“Stop listening with your ears, Sugar Queen,” Toph barked.

“What am I supposed to listen with?” she snapped.

“Your feet?” Zuko guessed, a grin in his voice.

“Exactly.” And for a reward, Toph sent the next boulder his way. It hit him hard enough to knock the breath right out of him, and he would have crashed against the opposite wall if not for a hastily bent cushion of air. “Oof. Toph, that hurt!”

“Then fight back!”

“I can’t earthbend yet!”

“How is that my problem?”

Picking himself up, Zuko grumbled curses under his breath. Toph had the feeling they were going to see a return of the angry jerk the next time it came to practice firebending. Good. In her experience, the only way to improve was by being pushed.

Still, since he’d shown no aptitude for earthbending at all, Toph focused the majority of her attacks on Katara… and she gave her a lot of heads up with those. Katara was technically still a beginner, after all.

However, within a half hour, she could tell when something clicked. Katara moved to the side just in time to avoid a sudden chasm.

“That’s it, Sweetness! You gotta trust your feet.”

She could practically see Katara’s concentration as the girl sent a return spear of earth her way. Toph of course could tell it was coming from a mile off, but Katara’s target had been true.

“Great. Now face this head-on!” Toph sent a huge boulder flying right at her.

Katara met it without flinching. Standing firmly in place, hands balled into determined fists, she struck it with her head. The rock crumbled into powdery bits.

Katara staggered back, more out of surprise than the impact. “It worked!”

“That sounded… violent,” Zuko remarked.

Toph grinned. “She’s finally using her head.”

“I’ll show you using my head!” And with that, Katara was on the offensive.

They traded boulders for a few minutes. Then, just to mix things up, sent another rock flying at Katara’s head, and a second at Zuko’s ribs.

Katara’s blocked hers with a decent wall of stone.

Zuko leaped and… didn’t come back down. A few seconds later he landed, light as a feather, on the other side of the cave. That had been a patented Twinkletoes move.

“How did you know that was coming?” Toph demanded. All earthbending crated seismic vibrations, even if the earthbender was just use it to ‘look’ around, but she hadn’t felt a hint of it from him.

“I felt the air move,” he breathed, sounding surprised and a bit awed.

Air… sense? Sure, why not. There was earth sense and a sort of fire sense. Then Toph scowled. “I told you no cheating!”

Katara acted before she could, rising a column of earth right under Zuko’s feet to trip him up. Instead, he used it as a launch that literally sent him flying… where he landed gently on the other side of the cave.

Ah. A moving target. Toph’s favorite.

After that, it was _on_.

Katara and Toph bent earth at each other, flinging occasional shrapnel and rocks Zuko’s way for him to dodge. Soon the cave was filled with laugher, rumbling rock, and the occasional swear as someone (Katara or Zuko) was hit.

 

* * *

 

Sokka was a guy who had a good handle on how the world worked. Or, at least the world according to the Water Tribe.

For example, the men would go out and hunt the meat, defend against invaders of the fiery verity, and lift all the heavy things that needed lifting. Women would deal with their own duties (which were equally important, no matter what Katara said) such as taking care of the home, keeping the tribe’s history, and gathering all the vegetables during the short summer season. And, of course, men and women fished. _Everyone_ fished in the autumn, when every calorie was needed for the long, dark winter ahead.

Katara being a waterbender sort of flipped all the normal expectations on its head. Being an Avatar, even more so. That’s why Sokka didn’t gripe when Katara abandoned her traditional roles the moment her eyes first turned glowy. Hey, he wasn’t unreasonable unlike _some_ people. From what little hints Katara had dropped about the North Pole those guys were brittle as ice-burnt jerky.

Sokka was a guy who could go with the flow. He didn’t even complain (much) when the three Avatars went off on their own field trip to the cave, leaving him to take care of the camp which was, of course, women’s duties.

But he absolutely drew the line at washing his sister’s disgusting socks.

After the Avatars took off, Sokka got to work. When he was done, there was enough firewood to satisfy three firebenders (and how was this his life where that was now a concern?), all the bedrolls had been aired out, the rice set to boil, and the ostrich-horses had been brushed and moved to greener pasture. Sokka stood back with his hands on his hips to survey his clean and tiny little kingdom. Sure, it was traditionally women’s work, but he had done a good job at it. Better yet, there was still a good amount of light in the day left. He planned to to spend it fishing.

Something—he was never sure what—suddenly made all the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Sokka stiffened listening. There were no sounds of birds in the trees. The forest was quiet. Too quiet.

Slowly, keeping the movement casual, his hand drifted down to his sword. One finger lifted the tiny metal clasp that kept it secure in its sheath.

A single twipping sound was his only warning.

Twisting, Sokka cut the arrow out of the air in a single, fluid motion. It fell in two neat pieces at his feet.

He had only a second to gloat. The next moment at least five Fire Nation infantry men charged at him from the trees, and some of those were firebenders.

Sokka had never been so grateful for the last year or so of instruction at the blade. He couldn’t turn fire blasts away, but he knew from sparring with Zuko, and later Katara, how to anticipate a blast and be where a firebender didn’t expect him to be.

He managed to take a couple by surprise, knocking them away and making the others fall back in more defensive moves. Firebenders sucked at defense—all their strength came from offense. Sokka took full advantage and moved forward, cutting one man so badly he had to limp away.Two more replaced him.

Surrounded and out-manned, Sokka switched tactics and fought dirty. He smacked men with the flat of his blade when he couldn’t strike edge-on. He kicked up rocks and more than one positioned himself so that if a firebender blasted at him, he’d hit the guy behind him instead.

A sudden impact slammed his shoulder hard. Sokka slashed wildly at the man in front of him to give himself a second’s space. It wasn’t until Sokka glanced down and saw the bright red fletching buried halfway into the meat under his collarbone that he realized he’d been shot with an arrow.

Strangely, the pain didn’t register. There was too much adrenaline singing in his veins. No time to think about what it meant, either. In the next instant, Sokka switched grips to his left hand and parried off another firebender, ducking under a gout of fire to come up and cut the bastard down.

Then a second arrow hit him square in the gut, punching the air out of him. And that… that he felt.

Sokka staggered back and looked up to see three men coming at him, lips curled up in a snarl behind their white, skull-like facemasks. Grimly, Sokka set his feet and tried to raise his sword. It was as if the strength had been sapped out of his arms. The blade shook. He could only raise it into a half-guard position before—

Someone barked out, “Hold!”

The firebenders surrounding him stopped, fists cocked, the fire leashed.

Gulping air—when did he get so out of breath?—Sokka let the tip of the sword drop to the ground. A cold weakness was stealing over his body, like icewater in his veins. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to lift it again.

An older Fire Nation man with some truly ugly muttonchops strode out from the edge of the forest clapping single, sarcastic claps.

“Very good,” he said. “I guess it is true what they say about Water Tribe barbarians. You’re just a boy, but you fought well.”

“Or maybe you guys really suck.” Then Sokka made the mistake of looking down. Rivulets of blood had dripped from his collarbone all the way down his arm and to his hand. The second arrow was even worse.

The world went funny and gray for a moment, and he sank to his knees without meaning too. When the world snapped back into place, the Fire Nation guy was standing in front of him, looking down with an amused expression.

“I’m not sure you heard me the first time. My name is Admiral Zhao. Recently promoted. I believe you’ve met my Yu-Yan archers.”

Zhao. So this was the guy who tried to blow Zuko up. At that moment, Sokka decided he really didn’t like him, either. “Is that all supposed to mean something to me?”

“I’ve been tasked by the Fire Lord himself to find and return the Avatar to the Fire Nation in chains. Rumor has it that a Water Tribe boy commands this so-called Avatar.” Zhao leaned forward, the picture of politeness. “Where is he?”

The world swam around him, and he wasn’t sure he’d heard that right. So he decided to play dumb. “Which one? There are three.”

“That is heresy spread by the lesser elements to give false hope,” Zhao said. “There has only been _one_ Avatar, and he has been declared a traitor to the nation of his birth.”

Oh… Monkey Feathers. Sokka had wondered what the Fire Lord’s reaction would be when he heard of the three Avatars. Anger? Retaliation against the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom, maybe? He hadn’t expected flat out denial.

“Well, you guys screwed up. You killed the Air Nomad avatar and the spirits gave us three more in his place.” Sokka bared his teeth in a smile. “Good job.”

Zhao narrowed his brown-gold eyes. “Where is he?”

This would be a good time to be quiet. Sokka pinched his mouth shut.

His resolve lasted a whole two seconds as Zhao grabbed the arrow sticking out from under his collarbone and pulled the shaft free with a vicious twist.

Sokka screamed, and the world faded out as he fainted. Not his finest moment. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, woken with a slap across the face. The second he was conscious. Zhao grabbed Sokka’s tunic and lifted him up so they were eye to eye.

“I’m not going to kill him,” Zhao said. “There’s no point. He would just be reborn and we will have to start our search all over again.” His free hand lit in flame. “But you don’t have that luxury. So I’ll ask you one last time: Where is the Avatar?”

Spirits forgive him… “Omashu!” Sokka blurted. “I sent Zuko to Omashu, but he’s… he’s coming back.”

“Good, then you can be a message about what happens when you betray the Fire Nation.” The fire in Zhao’s fist flared hot, and Sokka and he had a moment to think, _They burned half of Zuko’s face off the last time—_

“Zhao, stop.”

Another Fire Nation man had stepped forward, stopping Zhao a second before he brought the fire across Sokka’s eyes. He wore similar officer’s uniform to Zhao, though he was nearly as dark skinned as Sokka and wore his wiry gray hair tied back. “This boy is worth much more alive than dead.”

The flame went out as Zhao turned to the old man. “I doubt he will live for much longer.”

“Perhaps not,” the older man agreed, “but it will give the Avatar incentive to come to us.”

Zhao considered it for a moment. Sokka just tried to breathe and not feel the twin agonies from the arrows shooting through his body…. Or think too hard about what they said. He could taste blood on the back of his tongue. He was bleeding on the inside. Not a good sign.

“Zhao,” the old man repeated softer, probably so that the other firebenders couldn’t hear him. “Listen to your old master. Allow the Avatar to come to us instead of wasting lives hunting him.”

“Very well, Jeong-Jeong.” Zhao let Sokka go. His legs wouldn’t hold him and he crumbled with a cry between grit teeth. “Then, I’ll leave the barbarian in your care. Have your men bring him to Pohuai.”

 

* * *

 

 

The three Avatars walked out of the cave, dusty, mud-pattered, and each grinning exhausted grins.

Toph arched her back and stretched her hands toward the sky. “Ahhh. Nothing like a good brawl to work up an appetite. I hope Snoozles whipped something good up for dinner.”

“You have tasted what he calls cooking, right?” Katara asked.

Zuko shrugged. “I’m hungry enough to eat an angry moose-lion.”

“Knowing him, that’s exactly what he’ll try to serve up.”

Toph stopped, her nose in the air. “Do you guys smell that?”

“No… what?” Zuko stopped and breathed in. He got nothing unusual.

“I smell smoke. A lot of it.” Toph stamped the ground once. “My feet don’t see Sokka at the campsite.”

There was a beat, then they broke out into a run toward the camp. Zuko’s longer legs and aid from the wind meant he got there well before the other two. He stopped at the campsite and stared.

It was in total disarray. The cook fire had burned to cinders which were spread all over the place, their packs were open and spilling out supplies, clothing, and blankets, all stomped into the mud.

“Sokka!” he called. “Sokka!”

He stepped forward and his boot crunched on the broken shaft of an arrow. Next to that lay Sokka’s sword.

Katara and Toph arrived, stopping at the edge of the campsite to stare just as he had.

“What happened?” Toph’s blank eyes were wide from shock. “Bandits?”

“No.” Grimly, Zuko held up the arrow shaft. “I recognize the fletching. These are from Yu-yan archers.”

Katara strode forward, shouldering him out of the way to pick up one of the few whole arrows. She made a distressed noise—it was soaked halfway up the shaft with blood.

“They took him.” Her voice was quiet, but something in it made the hair on the back of Zuko’s neck stand on end. “They hurt my brother.”

The arrow shaft snapped in two in her hands. Then wind blew in out of nowhere.

When Katara looked up, her eyes glowed an unearthly blue.

 

* * *

 

 

In the years since she woke up in her second life as an Avatar, Katara’s waterbending had become acutely sensitive. It was something she was still half-aware of—noticed mostly when she easily pulled a trick that would have left her previous self gasping, even during a full moon.

Now, as she strode into the destroyed campsite she could feel with her water-sense the splatters of blood which had sunk into the soil. Most of it was blood that sang with the heat of fire.

But when she picked up that arrow shaft, she felt the cold promise of the tundra, the bite of the south. Furthermore, the blood had nearly the same markers which flowed through her own veins. This was Sokka’s blood.

Rage engulfed her.

When she confronted Yon-Rha those years and a lifetime ago, icewater had nearly frozen her heart solid.

Now her blood burned with the hatred of fire. She felt the arrow shaft snap in her balled fists as she reached deep into the bones of the earth for the strength to crush her enemies—forgetting that there was no one around to vent on. The soil buckled and roiled. The groundwater deep under her feet trembled, trying to break upward to come to her call. The dead fire inside the cold cookfire cinders suddenly roared to life. Then the wind came to her like it never had before, roaring in with the ferocity of a gale, ripping leaves and branches off the trees to whip around in crazy circles.

Katara screamed, sinking to her knees. It wasn’t enough.

They had taken Sokka. They had **taken Sokka**.

His blood, and the blood of the firebenders he had spilled rose up, the drops circling, separating into liquid and tiny motes of metal that spun out into hair-fine needles which ripped into the tree-trunks like shrapnel.

Zuko was yelling something, but Katara was too far gone to care. She barely noticed how Toph leaped in to drag the boy away—both giving her space.

Good. Katara needed room. She was going to destroy whoever had taken her brother away from her Rip them into tiny chunks and then drown them in the deepest ocean.

Everything that was Katara faded and something _else_ , something powerful and destructive, took her place.

… Then, abruptly, Katara was no longer in the ruined campsite, looking down at splatters of her brother’s blood on the ground.

She stood in a place of darkness and mist.

Beside her, Avatar Roku turned towards her. His eyes were glowing with the unearthly power of the Avatar spirit.

Katara whipped around to see Toph and Zuko in line next to her. They didn’t react, but their eyes, too, were open and glowing.

There was a gap beside the three of them and the place where Aang should have stood, just as Zuko had described it.

Turning back, Katara looked down the line of Avatars.

“Aang?”

Her eyes blurred with tears. Where was her friend? He would know just what to do right now. He would help her save Sokka.

“Aang!” she called again and broke from her place in line to rush past Roku, past Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, and the older Avatars of the previous cycles—the ones so ancient she had no name to give them.

“Aang! Please… Where are you? Aang!”

On and on the line went. Every face watched her with eerie glowing eyes. Most were old, a few wretchedly young, but all stood in the same pattern: Water, earth, fire, air…

And then, a change in the lineup. Eons of years in the past, four figures stood at each point around an Avatar garbed in Water Tribe furs.

Somehow, she knew these others were not Avatars. Just regular benders, like she had once been. Yet their eyes glowed as well, and each rested a hand on one point of the true Avatar, as if lending him their strength.

Katara slowed. “Who are you?”

No answer, except one who wore Earth Kingdom robes turned his head to look straight at Katara. And even though the earthbender was male, older, and of a different nation… Katara saw _herself_ looking back at her from his green eyes.

“This has happened before,” the earthbender that was actually herself, said.

Then, just as abruptly, Katara was torn out of the place of dark mist. The power of the Avatar receded. She was just Katara again, knelt on the ground and clutching an arrow which was stained with her brother’s blood.

She curled forward, weeping. Sokka was gone. He and Aang, both.

But she wasn’t alone.

A small hand touched her shoulder—Toph. Then Zuko knelt by her other side to hold her, too. They were giving her their strength as those strange benders had to that other Avatar.

“Katara… We’re going to get Sokka back,” Zuko promised. “They left those arrows as a message. I know where they’ve taken him.”

 

 


	10. The Tale of The Three Avatars: The Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding some notes here so everyone can keep track of who knows which elements.
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>  **Zuko** \- Fire (Master), Air (some), Water (some)  
>  **Katara** \- Water (Master/Healing), Earth (Some/Limited seismic-sense), Fire (some)  
>  **Toph** \- Earth (Master/The best in the world/Metalbending), Fire (beginner/Heat-sense)  
>  **Sokka** \- None, Sword
> 
>  
> 
> Sorry about the wait! A LOT happens in this chapter. A LOT. Takes time to get it where I wanted it to be.

“Look,” Zuko said, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache. “This wouldn’t be the first time I rescued someone from Pohuai Stronghold.”

“Aang was— _is_ —” Katara quickly corrected, “an airbender.”

“So am I!”

“And Aang also wasn’t hurt at the time,” she continued. “That was Sokka’s blood on the ground.”

He gave up trying to be the calm, measured voice and threw his hands into the air. “Exactly! And out of us, who is the one who can do the healing?”

She stepped up to him, almost growling. The tiny campfire flared and for once it wasn’t due to Zuko’s emotions. “If you think for one _second_ that I am going to let the man who kidnapped my brother—”

“We’ll have Toph bury Zhao up to his neck in stone and leave him there,” Zuko said. “It will be hours until his men chip him out. I cannot believe I am the one telling you not to seek revenge.”

“He is my brother. This is an insult to my tribe.” She narrowed her eyes. “This is about my honor.”

He narrowed his eyes. “That’s low, Katara.”

“It's the truth.”

Zuko grimaced and looked to Toph who was sitting at the other end of their hastily made camp. She was listening to the show, using a pine needle to pick her teeth. “Toph, this is insane. You can’t think this is a good idea.”

“I think they’re both good ideas. But if it were up to me, I’d sink the whole place, dig out Sokka, and beat feet out of here.” She stood. “But the fact is we don’t have time for you to run around playing Blue Spirit. Seriously, look at her.” She jabbed a finger at Katara. “Do you think she’s going to let this insult go? Maybe she _should_ embrace her inner firebender. Besides,” she added, “Sokka was all about sending a message to the Fire Nation that the Avatars are here and we’re going to kick butt and take names. So we outta do just that.”

Katara shot Zuko a victorious look.

He was outvoted. Zuko sighed. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.”

Katara could afford to be gracious, especially now that she had won. “Thank you, Zuko. Now tell me the rules of an Agni Kai.”

 

* * *

 

“Secret tunnel…” Sokka softly sang, head falling back to thunk lightly against the wooden post he was currently tied against. “Secret tunnel… Through the mountains…”

The Fire Nation guards nearby gave him the stink-eye, but too bad. If he had to deal with this ear-worm, they did too.

Sokka was not having a good day.

On the plus, side, Admiral Zhao hadn’t decided to torture him for more information about ‘the avatar’. On the decidedly minus side, Zhao had his men tie Sokka to a post in the middle of the courtyard of Pohuai Stronghold like a captured damsel in a spirit tale. Real good for the ego.

Aside from the two nearby guards, Sokka was surrounded on all four sides by high walls, all manned by archers. The Fire Nation troops providing ground support were thick as fleas on an arctic camel. Oh yeah, and he’d been shot _twice_.

Sokka slumped against his bindings, hurting, probably dying if he was being honest with himself. Zhao had removed the arrow under his collarbone, but they’d left the one buried in his gut. Both wounds took turns throbbing the worst, or just combining into one big ebb and flow of pain.

He hurt. He _hurt_ , and he didn’t think this was going to get better.

Mostly though, Sokka was terrified one of the last things he was going to see was his sister and his friends being cut down by Fire Nation soldiers. Zhao and that other admiral guy were convinced they’d come to rescue him, and he was afraid they were right.

They might be Avatars, but they were seriously outnumbered.

He hoped that when he saw his mom again, she wouldn’t yell at him too much for putting Katara in danger…. Shouldn’t have left the South Pole…

Time flowed… weirdly. He slept — passed out, really — in fits and starts. One such time Sokka was watching the Yu-Yan archers practice archery by striking the same spot over and over in exact bullseyes from clear across the courtyard.

He blinked, or thought he did, and the next second the sun had moved across the sky and the older Admiral guy was standing next to him. What was his name again? Jun-Jun?

Sokka’s voice came out rusty as if he had been screaming instead of just slumped against ropes, slowly bleeding out. “Not telling… you nothin’.”

But the man simply held a fancy teacup to Sokka’s lips. Flower patterns and everything. “Drink.”

“Go freeze your head.” He tried to turn his head away, but there was zero strength left in him. And the moment the liquid touched his tongue he found he was too thirsty to resist. He gulped the stuff down—it wasn’t water, too thick, maybe tea, but with a medicinal aftertaste. 

“What?” Sokka gasped.

Luckily, Jing-Jing or whatever his name was understood. “Milk of the poppy, to ease the pain. I am sorry I can do no more.” Then, with a stern nod he walked away.

Dazed, Sokka watched him go, not understanding. Was he doing a Fire Nation ‘honor’ thing that Katara was always teasing Zuko about?

He glanced around, realizing for the first time that the sun was doing down. Huh. Pretty sunset. The colors in the sky were more… vivid than usual. The blue was looking especially blue and… soft today. He suspected the milk of the poppy was already kicking in. He felt floaty.

Felt… nice.

Sokka blinked and the whole world blinked with him.

.

.

.

 

He stared at the orange sky, now streaked with red. In the warm summer day with the cherry-beet orchards in full flower, it made the entire Southern Temple look alight with fire. He just hoped that wasn’t an ominous omen.

With a sigh, Sokka turned from the glorious sky to regard the boy next to him. Aang was such a cheerful spirit. Sokka could count on one hand how many times he had seen him truly unhappy. This was one of them.

“Aang…” he started and then stopped. He didn’t want to lie, but… “I’m certain everything will turn out all right.”

Aang had had his knees pulled up to his chest, but he somehow seemed to sink further within his robes. “You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

Aang looked askance at him.

Sokka smiled and wiggled his fingers. “I never told you of my mystic master techniques? I can see the future…”

That earned a crack of a smile, though it was strained. There was so much pressure heaped on Aang’s narrow shoulders, but he gamely played along anyway. “Oh yeah? What do you see?”

Sokka grinned. “I see…” He half-squinted in the gathering dusk, pretending to think, “Bubbly fruit pies!” Then, right on cue he pulled a pair from his sleeves, still steaming from the oven.

Aang’s grin made the trouble of securing the pies worth it. Sokka would apologize to the acolytes in the kitchen for the theft, later.

.

.

.

A shout from the walls jerked Sokka’s attention back. He blinked again.

The sky had gone past twilight into true night. A cool breeze blew by, making him shiver. The evening was mild, but he felt was frozen all through.

 _Aang?_ he thought fuzzily, looking around. The young monk and the peaceful temple were gone. Nope, he was back at the Fire Nation fort. He twisted around, grunting at the pain… though even that felt far away. What had been in that tea?

The shout had come from one of the firebenders manning the gate.

“Sir! Admiral! We have movement at the gate! Someone is approaching!”

Oh no.

 

* * *

 

Zuko cursed to himself. From his hidden position on the stairwell he could see directly up to the upper level of the fortress. There were at least five yu-yan archers that he could see, all standing with their backs to him, watching the dark forest beyond with bows nocked and at the ready.

He could take them out with a blast of fire. An airblast would be better, though. Less flashy, and if he was able to make it strong enough while surrounded by rock in the stairwell, he’d be able to knock them all off the side in one swoop. But they’d scream on the way down, and that meant the avatars would lose the element of surprise.

He felt the seconds ticking by. Katara wouldn’t move until he gave the signal, but every moment he delayed was another chance she or Toph would be seen.

He had just decided on the fire blast—more chance of him being discovered, but he knew fire better than he knew anything else—when a shadow detached itself from the stairwell.

The man had been waiting so still and so quiet that Zuko hadn’t even realized he was there. Zuko drew a fist back, fire sparking between his knuckles. The figure of the man did not strike back. Instead, he pressed one finger against his own lips in the universal signal to be silent.

Cautiously, Zuko lowered his arm. The man gestured him back a few steps around the curve of the stairwell, so that they wouldn’t be overheard.

He stepped into the light.

“Jeong-Jeong?” Zuko hissed in surprise.

He had heard of the Deserter in his previous life, and had met him once, briefly, in the White Lotus camp outside the walls of Ba Sing Se. This Jeong-Jeong was much different than the one he remembered: His graying hair was tied back in a neat officer’s queue, and he wore a uniform with the golden ropes of an Admiral. This was a man who had not left the Fire Nation’s military.

Jeong-Jeong’s golden brown eyes widened. “You know of me, Avatar?”

Answering, _Yes, before I time-traveled_ wasn’t a wise move. So Zuko spoke the only other truth he knew: “I heard you are a good man.”

Jeong-Jeong huffed a bitter laugh. “I am only as good as the curse of fire allows me to be.” Then, before Zuko could refute that, he bowed low. “Forgive me, Avatar. I have failed you.”

“What do you mean?” he asked sharply. Had he already alerted the fortress that they were there?

“I did what I could to ease your friend’s suffering, but I could not free him. To do so would have meant revealing my true loyalties to the balance and not the Fire Nation.”

Zuko had the odd sensation of his the blood in his veins going icy cold. Not at all natural for a firebender. “What do you mean? How is he?”

“I’ve seen wounds like that before. It’s doubtful he will last the night.”

But Sokka wasn’t dead yet. That gave Zuko hope. “One of the other Avatars is a healer. She can fix anything.” Even lightning burns.

Jeong-Jeong eyed him. “It’s true, then? There is more than one Avatar?”

Zuko didn’t acknowledge that with an answer. Jeong-Jeong would find out about Katara and Toph real soon. Besides, he had questions of his own. “Do you know where my Uncle Iroh is?”

“No, but you may reach him with this.” He pulled out a tile from a sleeve. Zuko took it, glancing down. He was completely under surprised to see the white lotus flower.

Jeong Jeong waited a beat as if expecting more questions, but Zuko already knew of the White Lotus. Besides, he was definitely running late. He nodded up the stairwell. “I need to get up there, quietly.”

“Then leave it to me.”

“Thank you.”

He stepped back in the shadows as the Admiral once again ascended the stairs. Zuko heard sharply spoken orders—he wasn’t sure what excuse Jeong-Jeong made for moving the archers, but whatever he said, worked. The archers trooped past him, not seeing Zuko hidden in the shadows. Fire Nation eyes—even those of nonbenders—weren’t the best in the dark.

Jeong-Jeong came last, nodding once to the shadows. Zuko waited and then rushed up.

At the top, he threw a fistful of sparks in the air.

That was the signal.

 

* * *

 

 

“There it is,” Katara said as Zuko’s brief flash of sparks of lit the sky before just as quickly fading out. She nodded to Toph who sat waiting beside her. “Zuko’s in position. It’s time.”

“Let’s get this party started,” Toph said with a wide grin.

Katara couldn’t return it. She felt much like she had when she had confronted Yon Rha—like her heart had been encased within hoarfrost, reshaped into something precise and deadly.

For a moment, she regretted not telling Toph and Zuko about what she’d seen while she had been in the Avatar state—that strange other self that had been her in the past, but born into another body—but that would have been a distraction. Right now, she could not afford distractions.

There was another Fire Nation man out there who was about to learn that messing with Katara’s family was a _very_ bad idea.

Both girls strode out from the forest, and they were spotted at once. Katara heard the archers manning the walls call out warnings. She spared them a glance, but none took a shot as she and Toph approached the main door.

She half expected to have to fight her way in, but this worked too.

At her nod, Toph bent forward, and with a gesture from clawed hands, ripped the metal hinges away. Freed from the frames, the giant wooden doors fell forward with a crash into the inner courtyard. The two girls walked right over them.

She didn’t have as many personal encounters with Admiral Zhao as Aang and Zuko had, but she had no trouble identifying him now. Sideburns and all.

Zhao stood at easy attention before a wooden platform, putting himself in front of Sokka who looked to be tied to a wooden pole. From this distance, Katara couldn’t read the look on her brother’s face. Then the Admiral stepped in front of her, blocking her view. He clapped, slow and sarcastic.

“Very impressive,” Zhao’s oily voice made her grit her teeth. “An exceptionally talented earthbender, I assume? Is this how you’re spreading the _lie_ of the Avatar’s return to the peasant masses? One earthbender, one waterbender, and one traitor firebender?”

Katara’s waterskin sloshed comfortably on her hip, but she didn’t reach for it. This scorp-cockroach would be taken down with fire.

“Go get ‘em, Sugarqueen,” Toph said, edging back with both hands up in her standard guard position. To an outsider, it might look like a retreat, but Katara knew Toph was both getting a lay of the land with her seismic-sense and giving Katara room to work.

Katara strode forward with the confidence of a bending master and, what she hoped, the Avatar.

Zuko had been very clear that an Agni Kai was a duel steeped in tradition. He had cut corners with Azula and Zhao in the past, but if Katara wanted this to count, she had to do it right.

“Admiral Zhao!” she called, making sure the entire stronghold could hear. Her voice sounded young and strident in the cool air. “You and your men attacked a peaceful camp without provocation. You injured, Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe while those who would defend him were away, and stole him like a thief.” A pause before she spoke the magic words. “You have behaved with dishonor.”

The smug smile slipped off of Zhao’s face. “What is this?”

She pointed a finger straight at him in condemnation. “Worst of all, you have acted against the country, your lord and to the balance of the world. I know of your plans to slaughter the Spirit of the Moon. For this, I call you to account! I challenge you to an Agni Kai.”

Zhao looked utterly taken aback by the mention of the moon spirit, but he had not become admiral by chance. He recovered quickly.

“Is this a joke?” Zhao made a show of looking around. A couple of the guards gamely made fake chuckles. Others just looked as confused… and a select few seemed more than a little wary. They knew just how ambitious Zhao could be.

Zhao turned back to Katara. “You’ve been misinformed, little girl. Besides, an Agni Kai is a fire duel. You’re Water Tribe. Waterbenders do not wield fire.”

Katara grinned. Looping her waterski over her head, she tossed it to the side. Toph neatly caught it. Then Katara spread her hands and breathed out.

Fire erupted in her palms.

“My name,” she said over the murmurs and exclamations from the foot soldiers around them, “is Avatar Katara. I am a firebender.” She paused and added with fake sweetness, “I’ll promise to fight you with only fire, if it makes you feel better.”

Zhao’s face went slack of all expression. Then his brown-gold eyes narrowed. “Very well. I was going to negotiate a hostage trade for that Water Tribe barbarian, but a dead Avatar at the Fire Lord’s feet will work just as nicely.”

Zuko had said that a proper Agni Kai was done with a great deal of preparation. A time and a place were set for the duel, with prayers to the sun god, Agni, and a neutral officiant counting down the time and to ensure no one outside the two fighters became involved. Apparently, this was to allow both sides an opportunity to cool off—a wise notion for hotheaded Fire Nation people. But if no one backed down and the duel commenced, both would enter, face away (last chance to back out—there were certain honor points in just showing up) and as it began, the two duelers turning to face each other at the same time.

This was all if both parties respected one another. Even Azula had adhered to some of these rules. Until she cheated.

Zhao showed his ‘respect’ to Katara by instantly leaping off the platform in a forward rush, a bolt of fire blasting out before him.

Katara was ready and cut through it with a sweep of her own hand before whipping out with a lash of fire that was, perhaps, a little too flowy to be proper.

The fire duel was on.

 

* * *

 

With a gust of air, Zuko leaped from his place on the rampart to the wooden platform in the courtyard, staggering a little at the landing. He had never fallen from this height before using airbending. Aang would have landed as light as a feather. Zuko landed hard… not hard enough to break bone, but hard enough to snap his teeth together.

Sokka looked bad. He slumped in his restraints, and his skin had taken on a grayish quality. But he managed a grin at Zuko, teeth dark with blood. “Hey, stranger. Come here often?”

“Once before,” Zuko admitted, but he didn’t have time for snappy comebacks. The second he’d landed, he’d been seen.

“That’s him! Loose!” the archers bellowed from above.

Figured that men under Zhao wouldn’t keep the peace during an Agni Kai. Then again, as long as no one directly _interfered_ with Katara and Zhao’s duel, they didn’t risk incurring the wrath of Agni.

Zuko was ready. He’d seen Aang pull this move before. He slammed his fists together, creating a bubble of air that rushed out, disrupting the inbound arrows.

“Toph!” he yelled, voice distorted by the air bubble.

She bellowed back a war cry of her own and stamped down, hard. The earth rolled under her foot like a tsunami, washing up against the high wall and cracking it in three places. Some archers fell, others held on for their lives as the brickwork under their feet wobbled back and forth. Expert archers they might be, but it was impossible to shoot while battling an earthquake. Especially one powered by Toph.

Zuko reached over his shoulder and with a slash from a sword, parted the ropes. Sokka grunted and slumped forward, trying to stand on shaky legs. But then his eyes rolled back in a faint. Zuko caught him before he hit ground.

The Yu-yan were rallying, despite Toph’s efforts. Zuko heard and felt the crackle of fire as Katara and Zhao battled. He wanted to stay and help, but he was the only one who could get Sokka out.

He hoisted the other boy over one shoulder, then with a twist and a wave to call a billow of air, Zuko leapt high up back the rampart that Jeong-Jeong had cleared for him. His foot scraped the top of the wall— a few arrows sailed after him—but the wind gathered under him and he bounded again in a higher arc that took him cleanly out of the stronghold, and deep in the forest.

 

* * *

 

Dueling with fire only was hot and terrifying and brutal. It was also… fun.

Katara had not expected that last bit.

A lifetime ago, she had fought Pakku to show him that she was worth teaching, but also to make him acknowledge her as a waterbender. In the end, she had lost the fight, but won his respect.

Now she fought to beat down a tyrant. The man who had hurt her brother, who if left unchecked would go on to lay siege to her sister tribe in the North. The man who would try to slay the moon.

She was wrong before. Her heart was not frozen in thick ice. It was afire with righteous flame. And she drew from it each time to block Zhao’s fire. Her own returned blasts burned bright and fierce and unapologetic.

For the first time, Katara knew why Sozin-style firebenders used hatred to power their bending.

Zhao kicked a gout of flame. She blocked it with a hard stance, a shield of fire that collapsed into fiery needles which she sent to pepper Zhao with stinging bolts.

He roared, unleashing a blast that Katara blocked again. This time, though, the concussion from the force knocked her off her feet.

However, she was born a waterbender. Using the enemy’s strength against them was second nature. Rolling to the side, she scissored her legs, kicking a crescent shaped blast that forced Zhao to block with his own fire. That gave her time to stand back up.

She was aware, vaguely, of the chaos around her. Yu-Yan archers yelling, rock crumbling under Toph’s bending, and once a blast of air that had to have been Zuko. All of that was in the background, and no one from either side dared interrupt an Agni Kai.

Katara had barely regained her feet before Zhao charged, spittle flying from his mouth, his eyes too wide with insane fury. He punched at her, dagger of flame in his hand.

Zuko hadn’t gone over how to block flame daggers yet, but Katara was adaptable.

And she noticed that Zhao wasn’t watching his own feet.

Katara punched out as hard as she could, screaming with the effort. Her fire hit just before the charging Admiral—but she had taken a page from _his_ book and focused on wild power rather than finesse. She was an Avatar. She had a lot of power to spare.

Her fire wasn’t hot. It was explosive. It ripped into the soil just before his Zhao’s shoes. The concussion from the blast threw the man backward. He hit the ground and rolled onto his back, dazed.

Firebending was about aggression. Katara charged forward, one fist alight with flame. She came to a stop above him, her arm cocked back as if to unleash it at his bare face. “Do you yield?”

He blinked, dazed. Then his gaze hardened as he realized he was beaten. “Yes,” he said, low and hateful.

But Katara had come with a mission, and that mission had been to make Zhao _pay_. “Say it louder. I want all your men to hear you.”

Zhao snarled, but he must have seen the icy look in Katara’s eyes. He raised his voice. “I yield!”

“And?”

“And what?”

“And I’m sorry for attacking your brother, Avatar Katara,” she said. “Say it.”

He looked like he was seriously considering the fire punch to the face, but he was a coward at heart. Katara didn’t feel bad for him. A little dose of humility was good for for the ego, now and again.

“And I’m sorry for attacking your brother, Avatar Katara,” Zhao parroted back, about as insincerely as was humanly possible.

She’d take it. The point wasn’t to actually hurt the jerk. Just to humiliate him so hard his ancestors would cringe.

Katara held the moment and nodded once. The fire around her fist flickered and died.

Exhaustion swept through her like a wave. She was so tired. She wanted to find the nearest clear pool and soak herself for hours, just to get the feel of soot off her skin.

One glance around the courtyard found it in shambles, both from her and Zhao’s fight and Toph’s destructiveness. Sokka was nowhere to be seen. Zuko must have gotten him out.

At least a dozen of the guards stood nearby, watching her wearily. They didn’t bow low in respect, as should have been shown to the victor of an Agni Kai, but they didn’t rush forward to fight her, either.

They’d seen her, a girl who looked fifteen, beat their commander with their own element. That had to sting.

Touching her mother’s necklace for strength, Katara turned and strode to where Toph stood next to a cluster of unhappy archers who’d been sunk up to their neck in stone.

A bare vibration from the earth behind was her only warning. She remembered Zuko’s words a moment too late: Zhao had once turned on him after losing, too.

Her quick reflexes saved her. Zhao had jumped to his feet, striking at her with a fire blast aimed right at her unprotected back.

She’d given her waterskin to Toph, and there was no water in the courtyard to draw from. Earth was the element which had warned her, so earth would be the element to save her.

Katara didn’t waste time turning. She raised one hand, fingers spread and wrist pointed to the sky. A column of rocky soil lifted between herself and Zhao, taking the force of his blast.

A few of the guards made outcries—whether his bad sportsmanship, or her using a second element when she’d promised not to, she didn’t know. Didn’t care. Zhao cheated, so all bets were off.

Katara turned and stomped. Two heavy boulders jumped out of the ground which she kicked at Zhao. They coalesced around his hands, snuffing the flame he was sparking for another attack. A third stone hit him in the middle and sent him flying to land, unconscious, twenty feet away with hands still locked in two large rocks. They’d have to free him with a chisel.

Toph came trotting up to her, both grim and satisfied. “Excellent work, earthbending student.” Then Toph’s own hands lit with flame and she aimed a cheeky grin at the staring archers and foot soldiers—those who were left standing, at least. “Anyone else feel like getting cute? I’ve got plenty of fire to go around.”

“That will not be necessary,” said a new voice.

Both girls whipped around, jaws dropping as Jeong-Jeong stepped into view. Only, instead of peasant robes he wore a crisp Fire Nation uniform.

Jeong-Jeong turned towards the bristling men. “Stand down.”

And they did.

Jeong-Jeong turned back and looked at Katara and Toph. “I believe you have proven your point, Avatars,” he said with irony deep in his voice. “You should rejoin your friends.”

Katara felt like she should say something, maybe ask what by the Ocean and Moon was going on, but… Jeong-Jeong hadn’t been a friendly, let’s-chat-over-tea type even in the first lifetime.

Instead, she nodded. Toph snuffed the fire in her hands. Together, they walked out. No one followed.

Toph, though, paused as they stepped back through the busted doors. “I feel like we’re being rude. Think we should shut these doors behind ourselves?”

“A polite guest would.” She was tired, the adrenaline of the surprise attack fading, but she managed a grin from somewhere.

Together the two stepped forward and swung their fists forward. Columns of solid stone erupted from the ground and slammed the broken fort doors back in place, bracing them shut. The people inside could get out over the walls or with the aid of a pickaxe, but it would take awhile.

After trading grins, Toph and Katara hurried to their meetup point.

 

* * *

 

Being an Avatar did not grant Zuko super-strength, and Sokka was _heavy_. 

Zuko was almost glad when Sokka came to, cursing and shifting around in Zuko’s unsteady grasp.

Panting, Zuko helped set him down. Then he got a proper look at his friend.

“Oh, Agni…” Sokka had been shot not once, but twice. His tunic at the shoulder was red with blood—the arrow they’d found, presumedly. The second, the gut wound, they’d cut short and left the shaft in. It was black with clotted blood. A trickle ran from Sokka’s bottom lip.

Katara could fix this, but she was busy dueling Zhao. Toph had to back her up, and Zuko didn’t dare leave Sokka alone and unprotected.

“Zhao…” Sokka gasped. “He… thought I sent you to… Omashu. He’ll… go there next…”

“Be quiet,” Zuko snapped. “You’ve got to save your strength. Katara will heal you. She can heal anything.” She had healed his lightning wound, had even brought Aang back from the brink of death… though with spirit water.

Sokka shook his head. He reached to grip Zuko’s arm the way the Water Tribe Warriors did it elbow to elbow. “Take care… of Katara.”

It hit Zuko like a punch to the chest. Sokka thought he was dying.

Letting go of his arm, he grabbed Sokka’s tunic. “Don’t you dare talk like that. You’re going to be fine. Okay? Just… just hang on.”

Sokka’s nodded, but his hand slipped from Zuko’s arm. His eyes going glazed and unfocused. Maybe Zuko had somehow made his injuries worse during the rescue, or maybe Sokka was at the end of his strength. Now that he was back among friends, he’d let go.

“Sokka!” Zuko shook him. “Sokka!”

There was no answer.

Zuko didn’t think. He needed water, so he ripped it from the ground, the plants, the air for fifteen feet in a circle around him.

Katara had once tried to teach him healing, and he failed, but Sokka didn’t have time to wait.

Out of the two wounds, the gut wound looked to be the worst. He pulled shaft free, thanking the spirits that Sokka was already passed out. It came free more easily than he thought, though with a great deal of blood. Blood Sokka probably couldn’t spare.

“Please…” Zuko said, pressing a globe of water to it and concentrating, _willing_ something to happen.

The water didn’t glow, just grew dark red.

“No… No….” Zuko pressed two fingers against Sokka’s throat, felt a bare flutter of a pulse. Or was that just his own hands shaking?

He couldn’t do this. Sokka was dying and he _couldn’t do this_.

Zuko twisted to look back towards the direction of the stronghold. He couldn’t see it through the trees. “Katara! Katara!”

There was no answer.

Ruthlessly, Zuko forced back the panic that tried to bubble up. Katara was fighting her own battle, and Zuko knew that if he didn’t get ahold of himself, Sokka wouldn’t be around when she returned.

Cauterizing the wound would stop the bleeding, but the arrow had no doubt pierced intestine and… whatever else was in there. Fire wouldn’t fix that. Just give his friend a slower, lingering death.

Strangely, his Uncle’s advice came back to him, years and an entire lifetime ago: _Go back to the basics, Prince Zuko._

What were the basics of waterbending? Pushing and pulling.

He was trying to throw will and effort into healing like a firebender. He needed to think like a waterbender.

Zuko took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the glove of water around his hand, the gentle push and pull, the tiny sway he could detect, so much like the flicker of a flame. He remembered that first day he’d waterbent, how Katara pressed her own hand over his heart.

 _“This is your body’s push and pull,”_ she had said.

Zuko’s own pulse was like thunder. That was his push and pull. And Sokka’s…

It was as if the water coating his hands became a lens of a spyglass. Through it, he could feel the faint rush of Sokka’s blood, a weak trickle instead of the steady river. His heart labored to push blood which was leaking out and pooling in the wrong areas. His chi, the flicker of life Zuko knew so well, was dim and faltering.

Zuko was born a firebender. He knew how to manipulate his own chi, how to force it out of his own body and create his will. It still wouldn’t not have been enough, not without the push and pull of his own heart and the water to see how to guide it.

The water in his hands glowed a brilliant, vivid blue. He felt the wound under his hand respond, flesh knitting, a tiny threads of blood vessels—most too tiny to see with the eye—reconnecting. But Sokka’s chi was faint. Too faint to help. His body had been fighting for hours and he was exhausted.

With the will of a firebender, Zuko poured his own chi in to help bolster him. Sokka’s body soaked it up like a flower turning to seek the sun. Organs, swollen from trauma, were soothed. What had been punctured was restored, and even the infection that had started to take hold was washed away.

How long it took, he could not say. He only noticed the presence beside him when he felt Katara’s strength join his own. Her water-gloved hands covered Zuko’s.

Through the link of water, Zuko noted her healing touch had much more finesse.

His voice was thick and sounded like it came from far away. “I don’t know… I don’t know if I’ve done it right.”

“He’s going to be fine,” she said grabbing his wrist. “You need to stop.”

 

* * *

 

Katara and Toph came across the boys only halfway to their planned meet-up point. Sokka was laid out flat on the ground, Zuko knelt over him with a tell-tale blue glow of healing waterbending.

Katara’s surprise at seeing him healing was overruled for her horror. Exclaiming in horror, she ran over and knelt beside him. 

Sokka was hurt. Really, _really_ hurt.

She should have ended her duel with Zhao quicker, should have come right back…

Katara was exhausted, the crescent moon was low in the sky, but water leapt to her hands. She let out a breath. Her bending told her exactly how much extensive healing had already happened. Sokka was still suffering from blood loss and overall trauma, but Zuko had patched up the worst of the deadly wound in his stomach.

“I don’t know if I did it right..” Zuko’s voice was thick with exhaustion.

Healer Yagoda had once warned Katara of the dangers of pouring in her own chi to bolster a failing patient. Like a person drowning, they could drag their healer down with them.

If Zuko wasn’t one of the most stubborn people she knew _and_ an Avatar…

“He’s going to be fine,” she said grabbing Zuko’s wrist. “You need to stop.”

Zuko fought her for a second, then the glowing water in his hands faltered and dimmed. He fell forward, but caught himself with a hastily thrown out arm.

Yup. Definitely overextended himself.

Katara moved her water gloved hand to examine Sokka’s shoulder, even though was in danger of treading that line, too. There was a lot of nerve bundles that ran to the arm, and the chi was tangled and hurting here. She could get a start on it tonight, and have it healed in two or three deep sessions.

She spent a few minutes healing the very worst of the damage. Just enough to tide Sokka through.

Zuko was sort of sitting there, staring at nothing and looking dazed.

The plan had been to get Sokka and beat a hasty retreat into the depths of the forest, but that plan had flown right out the window. Looking around, she spied Toph.

“I don’t want to move him.” _Either of them._

“I got it, Sugarqueen.” With a stomp and an over-arching gesture with both hands, Toph raised a dome of rock over them, encasing them all. No light, but it was night so it wasn’t like there was sun out for Zuko to draw from. Besides, Katara could still “see” enough to locate objects with her own seismic sense. It was easier in the dark.

Zuko was awake for exactly the amount of time it took to grab the bedrolls, lay them out, and help Katara move Sokka onto one. Then he flopped down next to the other boy and instantly fell asleep.

Exhaustion dragged on Katara.

“Toph, could you…?”

“I’ll keep a lookout,” Toph said simply. “You, Sparky, and Snoozes get your snooze on.”

She nodded in thanks laid down on Sokka’s other side, pulling the blanket over her as well. She remembered sleeping like this in a group on Appa’s saddle.

Closing her eyes, she could almost imagine Aang a few feet away, navigating from Appa’s head… his laughter, bright and happy…

… And that empty spot where he should have stood in the line of Avatars, next to Roku.

_Aang, where are you?_


End file.
